Kate Krates
by Daizymac
Summary: Kate thought she was just another normal kid. A rocky home life, sure. But still, normal. That is, until her only friend in her new home of New York turns out to have goat hooves for feet. How will Kate deal with her new life? Will it be better than her old one? Or will everything come crashing down before she's even gotten her footing?
1. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood

**A/N:** _This is the first FanFiction I've ever let anyone else read, so I hope you like it! The story definitely starts off slow. For now, we mostly follow Kate through her life as she moves in at Camp Half-Blood. The time period is current. I tend to be a bit wordy, but hopefully it's worth reading._

**Disclaimer: **_Obviously, this is almost all Rick Riordan's. The plot and some of the characters are mine. And, don't be mad, but I haven't finished The Trials of Apollo, so some information may be old or wrong._

Kate walked behind Dylan, her eyes searching widely in the darkening New York City Streets. She and Dylan had been chased by chicken-ladies all day, then by large snakes, which Dylan had nicknamed basilisks for their resemblance to the greek mythological creatures. No matter what they were called, they were dangerous. Kate couldn't figure out why the things were following her so closely, but ever since she'd visited the Empire State Building on a field trip, she'd been seeing more and more weird things. Dylan was the only one who believed her when she told her friends about the group of short, chubby, odd-looking hag-ladies that had followed her from the subway to her house for the past week. Today, they finally struck. On her walk home, one had appeared in front of her, out of nowhere. Two more came behind her, and some more from a neighboring alleyway. The only person with her had been Dylan, and they'd only escaped when he'd whacked the one in front of him with one of his crutches, causing her to scream and shy away. Kate had been impressed that it had worked so well—they hadn't been confronted since—but Dylan was getting more and more worried as they kept seeing the ladies again and again after that on their way home. Finally, they had to backtrack and find a new route when they saw three of them by a newspaper stand only a block away from the apartment. Soon, though, they realized that no matter how they tried to get home, the path was blocked. When Kate began to get genuinely scared that she might never make it home, the first "basilisk" had appeared. Two more were slithering on the curb next to them in no time. They had only just shaken those things off their tail, and now it was six o'clock.

Dylan was muttering to himself, but Kate could only hear little snippets: "At least they waited this long…can't believe we got out of that one…have to call Argus…how do I tell her…" Kate followed Dylan blindly, though he sounded as shaken up as she felt. Kate had only moved to the city two months ago with her step dad, but Dylan had lived here all his life. She didn't know why Dylan took such a liking to her, but they became fast friends. In fact, he stuck to her like glue most days. Kate felt bad for him now, running around the city on crutches, but he was moving just as fast as she was.

Suddenly he spoke up. "Kate, did I ever tell you about the Greek myths? Or the Roman ones?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Only every day! I know you love them, but can't we focus on getting out of this first?" She asked, exasperated.

Dylan stopped suddenly and turned around. "Look, what I'm about to say is going to make you think I'm crazy. So, before I say it, think about those chicken ladies. Think about the snake things. Did they look normal to you? Really think about them, focus on their faces."

Kate rolled her eyes but listened to him. Something about what he was asking her to do seemed to appeal to her, as if it would answer the question of why a group of crazy people were following them. She closed her eyes and thought first about the lady that Dylan had smacked with his crutch. She'd been wearing a hood, but she was short and on the chubby side. Her movements had been kind of jerky and quick, like a bird's. Kate thought harder, but she just couldn't remember a face. She opened her eyes and shrugged.

"What about the basilisks?" He asked, and Kate repeated the process. The snakes she did remember. They were relatively short, but thick. Light green with a white collar around their heads. They had intelligent eyes, which scared her. Their faces were more like lizard heads than snake's, but Kate hadn't paid attention to that until now. "They-they weren't like any snake I've ever seen before."

Dylan nodded. "Right, and there's a reason for that. For now, though, I'm going to tell you the crazy thing." Before he continued, he started crutching down the sidewalk again for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. "I think I'm just going to say this directly. The myths are real. Those were real Harpies and real Basilisks. Real monsters. The gods are real, too, and their stories are real."

Kate stopped in her tracks, eying her friend warily. "Look, Dylan, I know that's what you want to believe, but its late, and we've had a rough night and—"

But Dylan cut her off. "No Kate. I'm not crazy, just tired. The myths are real, and you are being chased by proof. And they will chase you forever because they know what you are." He added quietly, as if trying to ease the shock. It didn't work.

"What do you mean, 'what I am'? I know what I am! Human! Normal! And I am not in danger! Well, maybe I am right now, but that's beside the point! Those chicken ladies are probably just druggies looking for a fix, and some idiot probably let loose those snakes. We have nothing to worry about!" She said, the words ringing through the air. There was a slight quake in her voice, almost as if she didn't quite believe what she was saying but didn't want to admit it out loud.

"There is something to worry about." Dylan said, as if the words caused him effort.

Kate walked forward, holding out her hands in a peaceful gesture. "Let's just go home. Everything's fine." She said, more to herself than to him.

He stopped her with a hand, pulling her arm to get her attention. "I can prove it," Dylan said, eyes darting around.

Kate, who was fed up with Dylan by now, crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Do it." She countered. This had become more about pride than logic now, because she knew she was right and hated that Dylan wouldn't acknowledge it. Rather than hesitate, as Kate thought he would, Dylan bent down and began to untie his shoes. Kate tapped her foot impatiently but didn't interrupt.

"Okay." He said. "Turn around." Kate lifted an eyebrow but followed instructions. She really was curious now. An odd ruffling sound came from behind her, and she had to resist the temptation to turn around. Moments later, Dylan called out "Ok. Ready."

Kate turned and almost screamed. Instead of wearing pants now, Dylan was wearing…fur. His shoes had been replaced by hooves, and he was holding his crutches in one hand. She looked at him, then back at his legs. "What is going on?" She whispered.

Dylan put his hands out in the same gesture she had used on him moments ago. "I am not a human. But I'm safe! I'm a satyr, just a greek nature spirit. I was sent here to take you to Camp Half-Blood."

Kate resisted the urge to scream. "Why are you taking me anywhere? Why did they send you for me?" She questioned, beginning to back away from him.

"I was placed at that school to watch out for potential demigods. A demigod is someone who is half human, half god. Demigods have a tendency to be raised thinking they are humans, and also to become monster food. There is a camp to train you to fight and defend yourself, as well as learn about your history and make other greek friends. As soon as I saw you, I knew what you were. I'm surprised you lasted into seventh grade, Kate. Demi-gods have a certain smell to their blood that attracts monsters, since it is half ichor. Depending on the god, it's not that strong. For you though, I'm surprised every monster in the entire city didn't come running. It makes me think…No. Never mind."

Kate was shaking her head, wordlessly refuting all of his claims. It was the only movement she was able to make at the moment.

"Kate, have things ever happened around you, things you can't really explain?" Dylan asked, his eyes wide and imploring. "Like you were able to read something in Greek that no one else could, or you were always oddly good at music or school or weapons? Or something else, like plants growing around you all the time? Anything?"

Kate stopped moving all together. "Yeah." Dylan waited for her to continue, so she told the story. "When I was little, my mom had a gun in the house, just a decorative, super old one, and I touched it once. I suddenly knew every single battle it had ever been in, every time it had been fired, every time it had been repaired. I knew exactly how…powerful it was, exactly how much it would take to break it. It was too much for me. I never touched a gun again. Another time, we went to a museum, and they let us touch this sword. The same thing happened. I was able to move my hand away fast enough that it wasn't overwhelming, but it still scared me. That's why I don't like to touch weapons anymore. It's like I always know their whole story. And another thing," She added, on a bit of a roll now, "It's little and probably not important, but it's still weird. Whenever I play a game, I always end up with the most..power, I guess. I'm always on the best team, always have the most money, always know the best shortcuts. It's not like I win every time, but it's..weird, I don't know." Kate's cheeks flushed red and she looked at the ground. Then she changed her mind and looked at Dylan in the face. "I'm not crazy. You're not crazy." She took a deep breath. "I believe you, Dylan." She laughed, "Or should I say, goat-boy."

Dylan groaned, then led her forward, continuing down the dark street. "Are you okay with going to camp tonight? The fact that the monsters started chasing you only a month after you came into town means a lot."

Kate frowned. "Only a month? Seems like a long time to me."

Dylan shook his head. "You've been hanging around me. My smell normally should block any demigod scent that you happen to produce. Plus, we got lucky. There was only one harpy working at the school, and she was super old and a janitor. I guess she was the one who ratted, though. Harpies normally don't have the attention span to remember threats for very long, so it's odd you got noticed at all."

But Kate was still confused. "What about the bas…bak…ugh, whatever. The snakes? Why would they chase me?" She asked. Now that she was accepting Dylan's story, she wanted to know everything.

"Well, as soon as a demigod knows what they are, their scent becomes that much stronger. My guess is that you become more dangerous when you realize what you can do, and the monsters arrive to take out the threat before it becomes too much." He must have noticed Kate's look of horror, and amended, "But that's been happening a lot less lately! More and more satyrs are trying to intercept demigods before they find out on their own without any way to defend themselves. Lately, we've been mostly getting little kids. You're a special case, though. If you were from a minor god or goddess, I wouldn't be surprised. Even some from the main 12 Olympians can go for a long time if they live somewhere were there isn't a lot of awareness about the gods. The fact that your scent amped up like that after visiting the Empire State Building is weird. Did anything happen to you there?"

Kate shrugged. "We went up in groups to the top floor, but when we got in the elevator there was a button for a huge number, like six hundred or something. I asked my teacher about it, but she looked at me like I was crazy. Then, I saw a plaque in greek on the wall, and some kid asked what it meant. Before the actual teacher or tour guide could answer, I did. I don't know how I could read it, but it just made sense." Kate had honestly forgotten about that. Now it seemed much less normal.

Dylan nodded. "Yeah, that's how it is for some demigods. The language is just so much a part of your godly side that the ability to read it is ingrained. Anything like that probably made you feel like something was up, right? Even that is enough to trigger it." Kate nodded slowly, taking her time in digesting all of this new information.

A few blocks later, Dylan stopped Kate by putting a crutch out in front of her. He held a finger up to his mouth, wordlessly warning her to stay silent. Suddenly an odd squawking noise came from and alley to their right. Dylan hefted both crutches and popped the rubber tip off of one, revealing a bronze spearhead. Kate widened her eyes but didn't ask questions. A second later, a harpy, this time with wings, came swooping out of the alley, claws out and aimed at Kate.

"Dinner for harpies! Hungry hungry harpies!" It screeched, the sound grating on Kate's ears.

Kate screamed and ducked, but Dylan just chucked his crutch-spear at the harpy, which promptly exploded into dust and feathers. Kate gave Dylan a horrified look. He shrugged. "Another thing you should know: Monsters always turn to dust when they die, then go to Tartarus, then reincarnate a while later. It's a viscous cycle." Kate just nodded, her eyes wide, though she was still staring at the pile of dust.

Dylan grabbed her arm and dragged her forward. "I texted Argus, the driver for camp, and he should be at the next cross street to pick us up. Your dad will be okay with that, right?"

Kate snorted. "My step-dad, you mean? He'll be happy to get rid of me. How long am I going to be there?"

Dylan winced at the question. "Kate, um, since you were attacked so soon and stuff," he cleared his throat, stalling.

"Just tell me, Dylan." She huffed, impatient.

"Well, you'll probably have to stay year round. For some it's enough to just go in the summer, but for the ones who are more powerful or attract more monsters, or the orphaned and abused, that's just not an option."

Kate took a deep breath. "Ok. That's fine. I didn't have that many friends anyway. Two more questions: How much is it, and what do I tell my step-dad?"

Dylan tried to hide a relieved smile, but Kate caught it. He covered it up by saying, "That's easy. We have a variety of pamphlets. We advertise camp half-blood as a summer camp, art camp, equestrian camp. The year rounders can pick from a number of very nice boarding schools. We'll also give you a scholarship."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "It's free?" Dylan laughed. "When the gods sponsor it, money isn't really a problem. Also, don't worry about your step-dad thinking its fishy. There's this thing called the Mist…" Dylan spent the rest of their walk to the cross-street explaining to her how the gods had gone undetected for so long, as well as their connection with the empire state building. By the time she got to the car, she was excited to find out more, though she was a little nervous about getting in the car with a stranger.

"Don't worry," said Dylan, "If you don't like it, Chiron will find an alternative for you." Kate nodded, but she missed his smug smile. No one ever hated Camp Half-Blood.

As soon as she stepped into the Suburban, she gave a little yelp. In the driver's seat was a man with short blond hair, but he wasn't quite a man. Every bit of exposed skin was covered with big, sky-blue eyes. They were all blinking and twitching, and one in the back of his head blinked at her in a way that made her think it was a wink.

"Oh my god!" She yelped, looking back and forth between Dylan and the driver.

Dylan wasn't phased. "Kate, meet Argus, Argus meet Kate. Argus is the driver for camp."

Kate stared at Argus, and more of the eyes stared back. As her breathing slowed and the car pulled off of the curb, the eyes started looking out the window, though a few stayed on Kate and Dylan.

"So..Argus. You must be Greek, but where should I know you from?" Dylan had explained to her that most of the greeks she would meet would be immortal, unless they were nature spirits or demigods. Since they were immortal, they all had their own myths that people knew them from.

"Argus is a servant of Hera, but the story you know him from was when he killed Echidna, mother of all monsters." Dylan explained.

Kate stared at Argus again. "You killed a goddess?"

Argus shrugged, but Dylan answered for him. "She's more half-snake half-woman, but she's almost as powerful as a goddess, so yeah. Argus is pretty cool, I guess." At that, Argus rolled his many eyes, producing an effect almost like an illusion, and Kate couldn't look away. When she finally tore her eyes off that man, she looked out the window at the buildings vanishing behind them. What had she gotten herself into?

Thirty minutes later, Kate asked how far away they were. Argus had taken them down a winding forest road that was starting to make Kate carsick. "We're about five or ten minutes away. By the way, it's a pretty obscure camp, so its a bit of a hike to get there." Dylan warned.

Kate nodded again. Anything sounded better than staying on this hill-ridden road.

Soon, Argus pulled off of the road at a seemingly random place, but Kate was out of the car before Dylan had even opened his door, breathing in the cool night air.

Suddenly, Dylan froze and looked around, and Kate was on alert immediately. "What," She whispered, scanning the woods around them. Argus was getting something out of the trunk, but a few eyes turned their way.

"I smelled something. It was super faint, but still, we should watch out. The woods around camp are stocked with monsters, and every once in awhile one escapes."

Kate widened her eyes in shock. "They keep monsters in the woods?" She asked, suddenly rethinking her recent life choices.

"Well, yeah, but they stay in the woods by a barrier. If one hasn't come out in a while, sometimes they're able to get out. It's totally fine, though."

Kate scoffed. "So what if one happens to sneak into a—what do you have here, cabins?—sneak into a cabin, what do you do then?" She asked, more confused and angry than scared now.

Dylan shook his head, an amused smile on his face. "I don't think you quite understand how camp works just yet. Besides, the barriers keeping the monsters out of the main camp are a lot stronger than the ones keeping them from the surrounding forest." Kate just stared at Dylan, then blinked and shook her head, turning her attention back to the woods.

Just then Argus came from the trunk with Dylan's remaining crutch, which he'd tossed in the back during the ride, and two swords. He handed Kate the smaller one, and tried to push it into her hands when she wouldn't accept it. Kate looked frantically at Dylan. He just gave her a sympathetic look. "Hey, Kate, I'm really sorry, but I can't guarantee your safety from here unless you have something to defend yourself with. You're going to have to learn to use one either way." Kate started to argue, but Dylan cut her off. "You can't use a gun. Normal bullets don't work on monsters. Only celestial bronze and imperial gold weapons work. Of course, both will work on you, since you're half of both worlds. Also, making bullets out of the bronze and gold that we need would be inefficient at killing, and way too hard to keep up with demand," He explained, anticipating Kate's every argument. In response, she nodded, gulped and took the sword. She would rather have the weird flashback happen than be unable to defend herself from some crazy harpy again.

As soon as she touched it, the flashback happened. She knew each battle and fight the blade had been used in, every time the hilt had been rewrapped (twice), even down to an ancient but relatively weak spell that kept the sword sharper than most. The flashback lasted longer than normal, and Kate realized that this was a more powerful and ancient weapon than either that she'd been exposed to before. She gripped it tightly in her right hand, copying the way Argus held it, and followed Dylan up the hill as soon as her vision cleared. Luckily, no one seemed to notice her hesitation.

After a minute or two of walking, she could see a huge pine tree at the crest of the hill, as well as something shiny hanging from its branches. "Oh, that's a long story," Dylan explained when she pointed it out, "but the tree basically represents the border. Once we get passed it, you're in, and the monsters can't get you." Kate let out a sarcastic laugh at that, but she immediately tightened her grip on the sword, eyes searching for any potential threat at the reminder of danger.

They walked along like that, Dylan in the lead, Kate behind him, and Argus behind her, for what felt like an hour but must have only been five minutes. Kate was quickly becoming more and more comfortable with the sword in her hand, but she hated walking in the woods in the dark. There was some comfort knowing that Argus was behind her and would literally be able to see anyone coming, but she was still on edge. It didn't help her anxiety when Dylan suddenly stopped them, smelling the air deeply. He turned to them and put a finger to his lips, then pressed the button on his crutch that would normally adjust the height. Instead of changing the height, though, there was a loud sound of metal against metal, and the silver covering of the crutch disappeared, replaced with a shining bronze spear. It was long and tapered to a fine point at the tip. It was simple, but the weapon looked all the more deadly because of it. Kate had to hold in a gasp, though the loud sound the weapon made when it changed was already enough to blow their cover. Argus nodded his head in approval, and without thinking, Kate reach out to touch the end of it. She didn't get anything about the battles it had seen, only things like weight and sharpness. She did know, though, that it was a very powerful weapon. The precision and thought that had gone into its making ensured that the spear would endure for a very long time. It wasn't nearly as old as the sword, but the power emanating from it matched the blade's. She raised an eyebrow at Dylan, who mouthed, "Brand new toy." Despite the joke, though, he still seemed very tense, so Kate kept quiet. He kept still for another minute, then continued to walk. Kate wanted to ask him why he'd stopped, but decided against it. If he didn't think it was bad enough to warn them, she wouldn't bother him about it.

They walked for a while longer, but Kate's mind wandered, and she stopped concentrating on the tree at the top of the hill. Instead, she focused on the ground, keeping her steps away from the slippery knobs of roots and sticks, and tried not to slip on the pine needles that littered the ground. Eventually, though, Argus stopped Kate by putting a hand on her shoulder. Dylan also stopped, tilting his head to smell the air again. Argus's eyes were darting around in all different directions, though most were focused directly to their right. Kate blinked to focus again (the eyes were all very distracting) and stared deeply into the woods. She hefted her sword, into an approximation of what she thought was right. Dylan and Argus did the same, both of them stepping slightly in front of Kate to protect her. Her heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, but she felt otherwise calm. Every muscle was tensed in preparation to fight, not run. It felt natural and exhilarating, being on the edge of battle, and Kate had to keep herself from smiling. Her earlier apprehension was gone, the fear replaced by anticipation.

Suddenly, the leaves in the tree ahead to the left shook, as if someone was jumping in the branches. They all glanced up, Kate bending her knees in anticipation to pounce. Nothing was there, and Dylan and Argus relaxed ever so slightly. Kate didn't, though. She was wound up, every sense on high alert. She didn't move from her position, not even when Dylan turned to give her an odd look. That was when the monsters attacked.

Three of the basilisks from the city tore out of the woods at all sides, slithering at a pace that was quite surprising. They were spitting what looked to be acid, and the frilly collars around their necks were standing on end, making them appear bigger than they really were. The one closest to Kate was behind her, though she only knew because she could hear it. Argus and Dylan both leapt at the serpents, but Kate took her time. When the stream of acid was only a foot away from her, she jumped to the left, dodging the green fluid. She let loose a laugh, then swung at the monster with her sword. It wasn't an elegant maneuver, but she managed to chop off a piece of tail. It let loose a piercing squeal and whipped towards Kate, but she had already moved away. It was wary of her now, moving towards her cautiously. Slowly, it lifted its head off the ground and began to sway as it slithered. Kate didn't know what that meant, but she didn't wait to find out. Instead, she charged at it, holding her sword straight out in front of her, and whacked the thing on the top of its head with the flat of her blade. She hadn't quite meant to hit it with that part of the sword, but the move worked. The snake flashed into a heap of gold powder, which flew away as if on it's own accord.

Kate stood there, panting, and looked around for Argus and Dylan. The only remaining basilisk had backed up into the roots of a huge tree, creating a barrier around the itself with a spray of acid. Argus and Dylan were standing as near to it as they could. Dylan's spear was glistening, though the fur on one of his legs was singed. She wondered why Dylan didn't just throw his spear, but she couldn't ask at the moment.

Suddenly, something in the trees caught Dylan's attention and he glanced around, seemingly getting his bearings. Then he laughed, which thoroughly confused Kate, then shouted, "Peleus!" Kate had no idea how that was supposed to help or what it meant until a huge red dragon crept from behind the tree, blinking as if it was tired. As soon as it saw the basilisk, though, it roared, shaking its giant head to wake itself up. Dylan and Argus scrambled out of the way while the dragon gathered itself to pounce. For a split second, the serpent looked almost pleased at scaring off the two men, but then it saw the dragon. Before it could do anything but squeak, the dragon was on top of it. He snapped up the basilisk and let out a small burp, smoke pouring out of his mouth.

Kate's adrenaline coursed through her in a second wave, and she wondered how on earth they were supposed to defeat the dragon. They'd had enough trouble with the basilisks and harpies. But Dylan turned and spread his arms, completely at ease. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Kate."


	2. Fresh Start

Kate didn't know what to think. Her eyes darted between the dragon and Dylan, her instincts telling her to scream at Dylan to get away. She was completely taken aback when Dylan reached up and patted the creature on its snout.

"What is going on?" She asked, as if talking to herself.

Dylan finally seemed to remember that Kate was new here. "Right. Kate, this is Peleus, resident adolescent dragon and guardian of the Golden Fleece." Peleus regarded her with an intrigued expression, though Kate didn't know how a dragon could look like that. Her gaze followed Dylan's outstretched arm to one of the tree branches, where a huge golden blanket thing was draped over a thick branch. Kate raised her eyebrows in surprise, but her jaw almost hit the forest floor when she saw the size of the tree. It was huge, as wide as the suburban was long. That must have been how Peleus had hidden behind it. He was a big creature, but compared to Kate's expectation of a dragon, he was pretty small. Kate then tried to look past the dragon to the valley beyond, but all she could see were dark shadows and a very dim glow from a large pile of embers near the center of the small valley. She eyed the dragon once more. There was no aggression in its stance, even as it cleaned its teeth of the left over basilisk. Both Dylan and Argus seemed at ease, so Kate decided that she could again focus on Dylan.

The satyr beckoned to her once she took her eyes off Peleus. "Let's go see Chiron in the Big House. He'll be able to explain everything to you. Sorry we missed dinner, but getting around all those monsters in the city took longer than I thought."

"It's okay. I'm too excited to be hungry anyway." She walked towards the tree, warily regarding Peleus, when she tripped on something hard and white. Bending over to inspect it, she saw that it was a large tooth. "What is this?" She asked, frowning and inspecting the five inch long, needle-sharp fang.

Dylan walked over to her and she held out her hand, letting the fang catch the moonlight. "Oh wow, Kate! That must be a fang from the basilisk you killed!" He seemed proud of her, but she shook her head.

"I thought you said they turn to dust?" She asked.

Dylan nodded. "They do, but with some monsters, like bigger ones or important ones, you get a spoil of war. It can be anything; hide, teeth, clothing, sometimes even something like a cloak will appear, but that's rare. I guess since this is the first monster you've killed, its kind of important, so you got one!" Kate grinned. Maybe this whole monster thing wouldn't be so terrible after all. Dylan high-fived her, then led her and Argus through the field of grass to a large house.

As they approached the house it was easier to make out details in the faded light. She saw that it was a relatively simple, two story farm house. It was red with a wide, wrap-around porch, and waiting on it was a man in a wheelchair, a blanket wrapped around his legs.

Kate watched him warily as they walked up the white steps. She'd had enough monsters for one day.

Luckily, he seemed friendly enough when he spoke. "Why, hello there, Dylan, Argus." He said, nodding formally. "Is this Kate?" He asked.

She nodded, stepping forward to shake his outstretched hand. "I heard Peleus roar and thought I might come out to investigate. Everything ok?" Kate and Dylan nodded, though Argus walked right past them, nodded to Chiron, and slipped inside.

"We ran into some basilisks back in New York, and they must have followed us here. Kate ended up killing one herself." Dylan said proudly.

Chiron nodded his approval, "I'm glad to see that you are a warrior, Kate."

Kate blushed. "Thank you. And thank you for having me on such short notice." She was never one to forget her manners.

"It's an honor to have you here, Kate. All demigods have a place at Camp Half-Blood. Why don't you come inside for some nectar and biscuits. I know you might not be hungry, but I'm afraid that you may be in need of some nectar anyway." He glanced at Kate's shins, and when she looked down, she noticed that her ankles had patches of angry red skin across the front of them, as if she had been misted by the acid. She gasped as the pain suddenly hit her.

Dylan grimaced in sympathy. "The adrenaline probably covered that up for you. But don't worry, nectar and ambrosia will fix you up in no time." Kate looked at Dylan in confusion, but before she could ask, he said, "Nectar and ambrosia are the food of the gods, but in small amounts it can cure almost any ailment of a demigod. It would kill a normal person, and it could kill you, too. Don't have too much." Chiron laughed at his tone; Dylan sounded like a mother warning a child not to spoil dinner.

Kate nodded, feeling a little queasy. "I'll be sure to remember that."

At that, Dylan put an arm on her shoulder. "You did great for your first day as a demigod. I probably won't see you for a little bit, so have fun at camp!" He squeezed her arm and trotted down the steps, heading for the woods.

"He's a satyr. He'll have to report to the council about his time in New York, and of course he lives in the woods. He'll be on his next assignment in about two weeks, but I'm sure you'll see him again before then." Kate frowned, but let the expression fade off of her face before she looked at Chiron again. She suddenly felt very alone and exposed, standing in front of the director of an entire camp of half-gods. He seemed to sense her apprehension, because he immediately led her inside to a couch and a coffee table with a tray of buttered biscuits and tiny glasses of some sort of drink, presumably the nectar. Chiron parked himself in front of one end of the table, and she sat on the couch, wincing as the skin on her legs burned. She felt slightly awkward as the two sat in silence for a moment, but then Chiron picked up a bread roll and started to eat it, gesturing for her to do the same. She inhaled an entire biscuit without even stopping to breathe, her hunger returning with a vengeance. She finished half of another before Chiron began speaking.

"Try the nectar," He suggested. "It will heal your leg in seconds."

Kate picked up the glass and sniffed it, suddenly nervous about its contents. She trusted Dylan completely, and something about Chiron reminded her of an uncle. Still, she was in a strange place and wasn't one to trust so easily.

She cringed again as another wave of pain hit her shins. "Don't worry about the nectar. That glass is the perfect amount, so you won't drink too much." These words settled her a bit, and it helped knowing that if something happened to her, Dylan would probably care.

She nodded, took a deep breath, and swallowed some of it. It tasted exactly like the sweet tea she'd had while visiting Georgia for spring break the previous year. Kate had hated being with her step father, but he was there on a business trip, so Kate was free to explore Savannah as she pleased while he was stuck in conferences or on his computer. She'd decided to try sweet tea, trying to embrace the south, and it had been the best drink she'd ever tasted. Now, the nectar brought that pleasant memory back to her. It warmed her body from the inside out, dispelling the chill she'd had since the Harpies in the city, and made the skin on her legs feel like it had been rubbed with aloe. She drank the rest of it gladly, then looked at Chiron as he smiled, a twinkle in his eye.

"It tends to taste like a comfort food. Something from a good memory." Kate nodded and leaned against the back of the couch, eating the rest of her roll with much more control.

Chiron finished his own roll and finally started some real conversation. "As you probably know, we don't know who your godly parent is. Let's try to get an idea now. Which parent do you suspect to be a god?"

Kate, who first had to get over hearing such a weird sentence, thought about it for a few moments. "My dad. Definitely my dad. My mother remarried when I was six, but I remember her talking about him before that. She died when I was ten, but I still live with my step-father."

Chiron nodded. "I'm sorry. It is inevitable that demigods grow up in a disjointed home, though they are not always unhappy homes. What did your mother say about your father?"

Kate thought back to the few conversations they'd had about him. "Well, my mom was a general in the army. Everyone always said that even though she wasn't a four star or a three star, she had this power about her where she always got her way. Apparently that's what made my father notice her in the first place. She said that he was always pretty quiet, but he had the loudest presence ever. She said that when he walked into a room, every single head turned his way. My favorite thing that she would say was that he apparently scared her at first, because she thought that if he snapped his fingers the right way, the world would bow at his feet." Whenever Kate was feeling nervous about anything, she tried to remember that if her dad could do that, then surely she could do whatever little thing she was worried about.

Chiron nodded thoughtfully. "It's hard to tell with most people, but I would bet my last drachma that Ares is your father. He often associates with those in the military, and he is one of the more powerful olympians. The quiet demeanor you describe is not like him, but then again, the gods are fickle. Traditionally, you would stay in the Hermes cabin as an unclaimed demigod, though I am almost entirely sure of your parentage. Connor Stoll is here on his fall break, and I have told him to stay awake for you so that you can find your way to the cabin. Tomorrow, you will be claimed by breakfast, I assure you, and you may meet your siblings. Until you are claimed, you will do all activities with the Hermes cabin. Connor will be here momentarily, so I suggest you ask any questions now."

Kate was silent for a moment, absorbing the torrent of new information. "Dylan explained to me that a lot of demigods inherit some powers from their parents, or at least characteristics, but I have only noticed one with me, and it has to do with knowledge of weapons. Not extreme skill with them. Just…knowledge."

Chiron nodded thoughtfully. "I'm sure he also explained to you that until you know what you are, you don't smell as strongly to monsters? Well, the same goes for abilities. Sometimes you won't even know your own abilities until a time of need, like when fighting a monster. Other times, being around other demigods is enough to make them show. Harper Morris, daughter of Demeter, had never had much of an affinity for plants or gardening or even being outside, but now she is the main reason our strawberry patch is doing so well. For children of gods with less showy abilities, like Hermes, their abilities may be as simple as being fast talkers or good on long trips. You never know. Though, with Ares, most will have a love of war and victory, and or a love or mastery of weapons."

This led Kate to another question. "What about children of gods with definite powers, like Poseidon and Zeus?" she asked. She didn't know a lot about the myths, but she did know that those two were very powerful.

"Well, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades signed a pact years and years ago stating that they would not have any more children, because their children were too powerful and sometimes abused their power. Of course, all three of them broke that pact. The children that resulted were even more powerful than before, almost as if the power had been focused all into one person instead of spread among multiple children. Most of those few children are alive today, and all very important demigods." Chiron's eyes had begun to glisten, and he blinked once or twice. Kate wondered what 'most' meant, and how well he had known the other kids. But she didn't ask, letting him continue without interruption. "One of your siblings will fill you in, but there were seven demigods that participated in a great war that took place a few years ago, and a few of them were children of the Big Three. Anyway, there is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. His sister, Bianca, died while on a quest in order to save the lives of others, but Nico is alive and well. Then we have Thalia and Jason Grace, who were an interesting pair. Jason was the son of Jupiter, while Thalia is the daughter of Zeus. Jason was in the prophecy of the seven, though Thalia could have been and was not." Kate tried to ignore the way Chiron's voice tightened as he spoke about Jason. From the way he used the past tense, Kate assumed Jason was dead.

Chiron cleared his throat and continued. "Finally, we have Percy Jackson. He is a sort of favorite around here, because he was in other prophecies before the Prophecy of the Seven. He comes here whenever he can, though he mostly lives in New Rome in California with his fiancee, Annabeth, daughter of Athena. She was also in the Phrophecy." All this talk of prophecies and quests and names was confusing Kate, but she decided to ask later, as her adrenaline was beginning to be replaced with exhaustion. Her mouth widened in a yawn, which she tried her best to hide. Chiron noticed though, and moved on to his last topic. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a simple leather necklace and handed it to Kate. "All of our campers wear these necklaces. Each bead represents a complete summer here. They are all designed to represent important events of that year. We also give milestone beads and one personalized bead depending on your godly parent. Some campers choose to add one or two of their own charms to further personalize the necklaces."

She took it gingerly, smiling as she put it on. Somehow she knew that this necklace wouldn't be coming off for a long, long time. Before she could properly thank him, they were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a camper entered without being prompted.

A tall, lanky teenager walked in, a glint in his eyes that immediately made Kate want to look around for a whoopee cushion. "Hey, I'm Connor, former head of the Hermes cabin."

Chiron smiled warmly at him, then said, "I have one little gift left for you." He handed Kate a drawstring bag that was sitting beside the table. "We have many campers here that don't have time to pack when they come, so some people from the Hecate cabin and the Hephaestus cabin teamed up to make these. It contains a few clothes that will fit you perfectly as soon as you put them on, as well as some other simple things to hold you over until your things gets here." Kate smiled widely at Chiron, then took the bright orange backpack. "The straps and lettering will change color as soon as you are claimed, as well. It is your pack now."

Kate shouldered the pack, then said "Thank you so much Chiron. This has been the best night of my life." Despite the confusion, terrified running, and fighting, Kate felt exhilarated, and couldn't deny that she'd actually really enjoyed her night. He smiled back, and Kate hoped to get a chance to talk one on one with the friendly camp director again soon.

"So what's your name, newbie?" Asked Connor as he led her down the stairs.

"Kate Krates." She answered slowly, already anticipating the jokes.

Connor raised an eyebrow at her. "Kate you say? Would you happen to know a Katie Gardner?"

Kate shook her head, confused but also relieved that he had ignored her odd name. "Never heard of her, sorry. Why?" She asked, hoping to draw attention further away from her full name.

Connor smirked in a way that made Kate worry for whoever this Katie Gardner girl was. "Oh, no reason. She and I are frenemies, you could say."

Kate laughed at his tone. "Well, try to remember that I'm not her." Connor grinned again, but something in his eyes told her that she was not in the clear.

When they finally reach the door to the Hermes Cabin, as Connor had taken the time to point out some of the other cabins, he stopped and gestured for her to enter first. Kate raised and eyebrow. In her five minutes of knowing him, Connor had not made the impression of being very gentlemanly or trustworthy. Besides, Kate could tell that he was feeling very excited about something, and not in a good way. More like an evil genius way. His impish grin alone was enough to make her step back and say, "Oh no, I'm just a newbie. I'll just do something wrong and trip if I try to go in first."

Connor's grin faded slightly, but he swept his hands out in front of him, bowing, and said, "Ladies first, of course."

Kate smirked. "If it's ladies first, why don't you head on in?" She asked innocently. Connor's smirk dropped entirely and he gaped at Kate, apparently speechless. "Go on," she urged. She knew she was pushing it, especially since it was her first day, but she didn't care. She really didn't want to face whatever Connor had so obviously planned, and it was an added bonus that she could be snarky to throw him off the scent of her awareness of his probable prank.

Connor huffed and threw the door open wide, then ran through it like basilisks were after him. Unfortunately, he couldn't escape the flurry of electric pink and purple glitter that fell on him, bursting from the ceiling. It must have been enchanted, because it clung to Connor like glue, none of it reaching the ground. Kate doubled over with laughter, tears streaming down her face. She entered behind Connor, though she had to stop when she saw his face. The look he gave her made her sit down on the end of the bunk closest to her, stopped in her tracks. Connor would not let this go. Kate would clearly have to be on the lookout.

By now, some of the other campers had woken up. Of the five, only two sat up slowly, blearily peering through hooded lids, while the other three jumped up, all of them around the same age as Connor. One was even holding a knife. Kate almost ducked back out the door, then realized that they hadn't actually been sitting there waiting to get her; they were surprised. But they relaxed as they saw who it was.

"Wait, is that Connor under all that glitter?" Asked a girl on the bed opposite Kate. Soon everyone was laughing just as hard as Kate had. The girl with the knife patted her on the shoulder once Connor begrudgingly told them what had happened. "Thanks for that. It's so great getting to see Connor pranked. It's rare that he gets a taste of his own medicine." At that, Connor threw both girls a rude hand gesture and Kate had to stop talking because she was laughing so hard. The other girl just snorted. "Someone's feeling feisty," she muttered. Connor actually growled at her for that comment, and Kate dissolved into more giggles. The other girl shook her head. "It's your first day here and you've already managed to out-do the master." She sounded very pleased, so Kate let her think that she had actually thought out her plan instead of simply forcing Connor to step through the door first. But the whole cabin was nodding, then laughing as Connor tried to get the glitter off of his arms.

Kate smiled to herself as she relaxed onto the mattress by the door; she'd already earned herself a fine reputation. No worries about being the completely weird newbie now. Kate looked expectantly at Connor then, who groaned and led her to a bunk on the left side of the room. "The bathrooms are back there. Girls on the left." He said, jabbing a thumb towards the back of the room. He jumped into the first bunk by the door at the front of the room, the one Kate had just stood up from, not even bothering to take the glitter off. He drew his curtain closed, so that no one could see him in all his pink, glittery glory. Kate grinned, then took her bag to the bathroom to change, relishing her time in private to refresh herself after her long night.

She wasn't dumb, though. Connor had directed her to the lower bunk, and that's where she had left her shoes, but she swung herself up into the upper bunk when she came out of the bathroom. Kate assumed that Connor would have retaliated, even if only in the time she was in the bathroom. She had no idea what he could have done to her shoes, but she thoroughly examined them before setting them on a shelf in her little nook and drawing the curtains securely closed. When she got under the covers, she was completely happy for the first time in a long while.

The next morning, Kate awoke to find the bottom bunk stained completely pink. The top blanket was normal, but the white sheets peeking out from under it were the color of fresh bubble gum. Kate smiled to herself, looking around to see if Connor was awake. She didn't see him; in fact, only one other camper was awake. It was the girl who had spoken to her, and she smiled at Kate as she shoved her feet into some hiking boots. Kate waved back, then headed to the bathroom to change. When she returned, Connor and another guy were up, and he was staring at her expectantly. He scowled deeply when he saw that Kate looked completely normal. Not pink. "Good morning, Connor." She said sweetly.

Connor shook his head, but Kate thought she saw a little spark of admiration shimmered in his eyes. "Breakfast starts in five minutes. Once you get claimed, your next counselor will tell you what to do. I suggest you bring everything with you to breakfast." She nodded, then climbed back into her bunk to inspect the contents of her bag. The most exciting thing was a pair of light grey tennis shoes, perfect for walks in the woods around camp. Kate put on the new ones, shoving her own ratty shoes into the bag. The grey shoes fit perfectly, of course, and felt light as clouds on her feet.

Someone knocked the edge of her bunk, and she peeked over to see a young girl looking up at her. "We're all going to breakfast now. She pointed to two others, a boy about the same age as her, as well as one of the girls who had barely gotten out of bed last night. Kate smiled at them all and jumped down, bag slung around her shoulders. "I'm Kate. Who are you guys?"

The little girl giggled and pointed to herself. "I'm Carly, this is Chris, and that's Amy." They all smiled at her, and they left the bunkhouse in a group. Carly pointed to the different cabins, telling her about each one. She told her about the empty Artemis cabin, and the tiny cabins of the big three that were only occupied sometimes, when the few demigods came to visit. There were cabins that looked newer, making the U shape look long. Two buildings, one still under construction, stood in the gaps between the two at the end, and Carly explained that they had to double up the U since there were now so many new minor gods having children. Kate stayed relatively quiet, letting all of the information wash over her. She also watched the other campers that were staying in Camp Half-Blood for the year, which was a pretty large number. Chris told her that while there was only an average of four campers per cabin who were staying, but that was still about eighty campers.

When they finally arrived at the eating area, which was just a huge pavilion, Kate almost wanted to cover her ears. The amount of noise was overwhelming. They sat at a table that was already occupied by a girl named Julia, the one who had had the knife the previous night. "Wait, are we required to sit with cabin mates?" Asked Kate, seeing the pattern of similar looking children sitting together. There was a group of unnaturally pretty people sitting at a table near them, and another table was occupied by three guys, one of which was asleep.

Julia answered her. "When it gets more crowded, we can't all sit at one table, so no. Normally, though, everyone just does it anyway. Some of the smaller cabins, like Iris, are allowed to sit wherever they want, since there are only three of them even during the summer. Other times, like with Nike, Bia, Kratos, and Zelos, they're all grouped into one cabin because there are so few children. I'm not even sure if Kratos and Bia have any kids, but they're all siblings, and it's important to honor even the most minor gods."

Kate nodded, then looked at a ring of fire pits, where kids were throwing parts of their meals into the flames. "What are they doing?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"Sending up prayers and offerings to their parents and stuff," answered Amy absentmindedly. She was eyeing the sparkly bracelet of one of the girls sitting at the table next to them, and Julia had to physically push her head away to break her focus.

"Okay, let's get our food!" Carly suggested eagerly. They all did, but when they went to the fire pits, Kate didn't know what to do. Instead of sending a prayer to Ares, who Chiron was so certain was her father, Kate simply sent up a general prayer, asking that her parent would claim her today. She really didn't think that Ares was her father, but she kept that doubt to herself. She had never been inclined to be super competitive or violent, but she didn't want to argue about something she knew so little of.

When they went back to their table, none of the children even touched their food. Instead, they looked expectantly up at a platform at one end of the pavilion. Kate gasped when Chiron entered, because he was no longer in a wheelchair. In fact, he was no longer even human. A horse had taken over the lower half of his body, and the animal was walking onto the platform. Kate gulped, then looked around. No one else seemed particularly put off by the huge half man, so she decided to try to ignore it, too. She guessed that the camp director of a camp full of half-gods would have to be a little bit different. When he reached the middle of the stage, he bid the campers a good morning, which was met with responses of varying enthusiasm. Instead of asking for a more peppy response, Chiron simply moved on. Kate breathed a sigh of relief, happy that this wasn't one of those camps.

"Not much news." Said Chiron. "Watch out today for pegasi chariots. Hephaestus cabin is working on a new design for steadier flying, but it is only a prototype. Also, we have a new, unclaimed camper. Meet Kate Krates." Though Chiron hadn't asked her too, Kate stood from the bench. Dylan had told her that a new camper wasn't really news around here, but she guessed that if everyone got a good look at her now, then they wouldn't be inclined to stare at her later. Still, it was odd when their stares stayed on her for longer than she thought appropriate, and Chiron didn't motion for her to sit. She tried to meet someone's eyes, preferably Julia's, but she noticed that they weren't quite looking at her, but above her. She glanced up and gasped when she saw an eagle, both wings spread wide, in glowing gold above her. In it's claws was a crackling thunderbolt. As soon as Kate saw the symbol, rather than feeling scared, a feeling of invincibility and power filled her. She gazed out over the crowd of people, a challenge in her eyes. Everyone was looking at her, but none of them seemed to want to test her. The symbol flickered out, and the feeling of power trickled out of her. Heads turned to Chiron, and there was a clamor as everyone started asking what the symbol meant. Kate leaned over to Carly. "Doesn't it represent who my parent is?" She asked. Carly nodded, "Yeah, but I've never seen that one before. It was really cool though!" Kate frowned. I know who he is, though, she thought.

Chiron called to Kate. "I don't believe I have ever seen that symbol before, Kate. Do you know?" Kate stood taller to better address Chiron. "Yes, I think I do," She said, her voice echoing across the now silent pavilion. "My father is Kratos."


	3. New Home and New Friends (maybe)

Murmurs of disbelief erupted around the tables, and Chiron had to stamp a hoof to bring quiet back. One voice carried above the rest. "I thought that Kratos was forgotten, like Pan?" Chiron waited for quiet again, as murmurs had resurfaced, then nodded to the burly girl who had asked the question. "I believe that he almost was, but apparently Jason and Percy's efforts have proven successful. I'm sure that just giving him a cabin here has helped him to resurface. Of course, Kate is older than that, but power has been running rampant in the West lately, giving Kratos himself more power. Kate, you will be staying in the cabin of the sibling gods, Bia, Nike, Kratos, and Zelos." Kate nodded and sat down firmly in her seat. Apparently the explanation he had given was satisfactory, because the rest of the campers stopped clamoring and shut up, again facing Chiron.

"Who is Kratos, again?" Asked Chris, looking at Julia. She shrugged.

Connor answered for her, having arrived just before Chiron entered. "Kratos is the god of power and strength. He and his siblings were sort of servants of Zeus. They were an extension of his will. Zelos has two kids, though neither are here right now. Nike has two also, and one of them is here. I'm sure she'll be glad to have some company," Connor smirked and pointed to an older girl sitting with the burly girl and some other kids, bent over a piece of paper and studying it closely. "Watch out. She's a little...much."

Normally Kate might have considered that comment a tip for herself, but the way Connor said it seemed as if he were mocking Kate, not Holly.

"Nike is the goddess of victory, so Holly is extremely competitive, but she's nice once you get past all that," Said Julia. She shot Connor a glare. "She's not actually that bad," She assured Kate.

Kate nodded, excited to meet her cabinmate…or was it cousin? She didn't care, but she ate her breakfast quickly, waved goodbye to the Hermes cabin, and moved to introduce herself to Holly. The girl looked to be the same age as Kate, with the same color hair, though Kate's was wavy and always down, while Holly's was more curly and in a tight bun on her head.

"Hey! I'm Kate, the new camper." Kate said, hoping to start off with a good impression.

Holly glanced up at her and smiled briefly, then went back to staring at the paper. Kate sat down next to the girl, hoping to get some more information. "I'm the daughter of Kratos. We're in the same cabin, I guess. Are you the head counselor?" Kate was wasn't a fan of being ignored, and almost poked the girl in the head to make her look up.

"Uh, yeah, one of them." Holly said, still distracted.

Kate huffed, though the girl still wasn't paying much attention. "I was told you would tell me more about camp or something, but I guess that's for one of the other counselors to do."

Kate started to stand, but Holly stopped her with a snarl. "You think that another counselor is going to be better than me? Laurel isn't even here!"

Kate hid a grin. She had been hoping that Connor and Julia hadn't been exaggerating when they said Holly was competitive. Kate shrugged, and Holly grabbed Kate's arm in one hand and the paper in the other. Leading her out of the pavilion, she began to tell Kate about camp, almost racing to tell her everything she could. When they finally reached their cabin, Kate had a pretty good idea of how camp worked, quests, prophecies, involvement of their godly parents, and the gist of the several wars that they had been involved in. She also knew about the Roman camp, but Holly had only spoken about them for a moment or two before moving on.

"This is cabin number seventeen, of Nike, Kratos, Zelos and Bria." The cabin was pretty average in size, but the walls were a bright gold color, and the roof seemed to be made of solar panels. The roof was lined with green laurals that seemed to be made of metal, almost like barbed wire. The windows were seamless and black, as was the door. When Holly stepped inside, the door said, "You win!" In a peppy computerized voice. Kate gaped, looking at the door until she saw the tiny speaker embedded in the corner.

"Oh, the door does that to whoever gets there first." Holly explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Kate's eyebrows drew together, but she didn't say anything, distracted already by the interior of the cabin. There seemed to be four main areas, each pretty large. So large, in fact, that Kate wasn't quite sure how they all fit, as from the outside the cabin hadn't looked very big. The area in the far left corner seemed to be a bedroom, with two queen beds. It was a very open concept cabin, noted Kate, as she was able to see all four rooms and the loft from the front door. The area to her right was the kitchen, and to her left seemed to be a sort of game room. The area in the far right corner was a sort of mini gym, with weights, mirrors, and an odd contraption that Kate guessed was for an amalgamation of workouts. On one wall were pieces of armor and weaponry, enough for at least six people. Kate stood at the door, amazed. This cabin was much more advanced than the Hermes cabin, which had still been pretty nice.

Holly smirked at her obvious awe. "Laurel and I didn't like how advanced some of the other cabins were compared to ours. Annabeth, one of the Prophecy of the Seven, helped to design it, but we made some minor improvements." Kate didn't know what to say. It was even nicer than her step-father's cabin, and that was saying a lot.

Holly gestured for Kate to come over to the staircase leading to the loft. There was a door under it, which Kate thought led to a storage closet or a bathroom. Instead of using the knob, though, Holly put her hand on the center of the door. After a small buzzing sound, the door opened on its own. Holly looked at Kate, who was now gaping at the door. "Not even a Hermes kid could get in here. We'll have to add your fingerprints in tonight when we have time." Kate closed her gaping mouth, nodded, and followed Holly into the space.

The short passage led to a room that had no business fitting underneath the tiny staircase. It had shelves and glass cabinets and other forms of storage, but the things lining the shelves were anything but normal. Kate felt a shiver go down her spine. The power and magic emanating off the items in this room were enough to make her crazy. It took several deep breaths before she stopped wanting to march to Washington D.C. and take over as dictator. When she finally calmed down, Holly was ready to explain.

"Some of these are trophies and prizes that me, Laurel, Maximum and Marvel have been gifted with, won or found. Any little treasures that we want to keep, we put here. Most of it is from our siblings, the few who got here. Because there didn't used to be a cabin for them, they were stuck with the Hermes kids." Holly made a face. "For a long time, the Hermes kids had a huge stash of stuff, most of which did not belong to them. Luckily, that made the gods mad, and one morning we all woke up to see their stash mostly empty, and every cabin had boxes in front of it, full of their own stuff." She smirked. "Our cabin had the most boxes. Nike is a big believer in trophies, so a lot of her kids get cool stuff." Holly picked a shield off of a nearby table. "Laurel and I got this from a fight with some empusa. Any sword that hits it will immediately feel as heavy as a block of cement to whoever carries it." She pointed to some laurels on a high shelf. "Those are victory laurels. Depending on the competition, the person who wins them can wear them for a day and feel increased strength and more likeliness to win any other competition."

Kate scanned at the rows and rows of artifacts and trophies. Some seemed normal, like a miniature statue of a swimmer that said "Maximum Steele—First Place State Swimming Champion". There was another one for Marvel Steele, a year later. She felt the Basilisk tooth that was still in her pocket; her first trophy as a demigod. She thought about all of the track and volleyball trophies she had at home. "When do I get a shelf?" She asked Holly.

The other girl shrugged. "We all decided against having designated areas. We wanted to, but the fighting for best position became too intense, and Chiron called a ceasefire." Kate raised and eyebrow. She didn't know why, but it seemed unlikely that Chiron knew about this place. She saw some weapons that other people would kill for, like a dagger with what appeared to emeralds and sapphires embedded in the hilt. Holly rolled her eyes, understanding Kate's glances. "Well, Chiron knew we were fighting at the arena, but he didn't know why. We never told him," Explained Holly, a sort of prideful glint in her eye.

Kate pointed at a wall with several bows hanging on it. "Do you guys ever use these?" She asked.

Holly thought for a moment. "We don't really like the other campers knowing about this. They would all freak out. Children of Nike have a little bit of a reputation for being competitive and wanting everyone to know when we win, but this stuff doesn't need to be spread around. Some things we use every once in a while, like when the Hunters of Artemis come through and challenge us, but other things, like that shield, won't be used until another war comes up. Then, there are the trophies. We don't really have room to display them anywhere in the cabin, and it's not like anyone else really comes in anyway. This room is seen by all the kids of the four, so at least they see what they're up against." Holly said, moving over to dust off what must have one of her trophies. Kate nodded, impressed. She almost took the tooth out of her pocket and tucked it onto a shelf, but she wasn't ready to let go of it yet.

"Alright, let's go see your bunk." Holly suggested, marching out of the room. Kate noticed that Holly now made a point of exiting or entering any room first.

Kate followed Holly out of the room, then watched as she locked the door with her hand. Holly led Kate over to the area with the two queen beds, and Holly frowned. "I could put you in a different area, but the bedroom part of quadrant two already belongs to the twins, and we can't change the kitchen around every day." Kate raised an eyebrow at her, confused. Holly huffed and went over to a panel on the wall that Kate hadn't noticed before. Typing in a password, Holly brought up a sort of floor plan. All the areas of the room were outlined in glowing gold. Next to each one were three smaller floorpans, outlined in black. Holly swiped on the room labeled Quadrant 2, which seemed to be the game room.

Kate jumped and looked behind her as that area of the cabin transformed into a room with same floorplan as the girls', though it was decorated a little differently. Pictures decorated the dark blue walls, and a dark, wooden room divider was leaning against one wall. The beds were dark blue, the same size as Holly and Laurel's.

"Whoa," Breathed Kate. It had to be magical; no architect could build a house like that.

"Yep," nodded Holly. Holly turned back to the screen. "I could turn our room into a three bed, but that would mean they'd all be twins. I could give you your own room, but you're too new for that. Hmm," She tapped on her chin and stared at the screen, pressing a button so that she could look at the possible combinations.

Kate took the time to look around at the cabin. She cocked her head when she noticed the loft. "Why don't I just stay up there?" She asked, pointing. Kate liked the idea of living above, and she didn't mind being a little away from everyone.

Holly looked up thoughtfully. "When the twins first came here, we all fought about who had to get the loft because no one wanted it. Since it's kind of like the loser's prize, I guess it would be okay if you got it as your own room instead of having to share, like us."

Kate frowned. "How come no one wanted it?" She asked. It seemed to her like the best room in the whole place.

Holly cringed slightly, as if embarrassed, but told Kate anyway. "Well, the rooms down here have twelve options for interior design. The room up there has three. You can have two twin beds or one queen, which we didn't like since down here we could all have queens. You're an only child, so I guess that doesn't really matter. For Laurel and I, we didn't think it would be good for the head counselors to sleep in the worst room. Marvel and Max are kind of scared of heights, so they didn't want the loft."

Kate frowned again. It wasn't like it was that high up. She glanced at Holly, who had her eyes on the upper room. She seemed a little nervous, tugging on her bead necklace. Ah, thought Kate, They're all scared of heights.

Holly smirked. "Don't tell the twins I told you that, but we're cousins, so I though you should know." Kate laughed a little. She was coming to realize that Holly wasn't as bad as Julia made her seem.

Holly beckoned for Kate, leading her up to the loft. The stairs were so steep that they were almost like a ladder, but Kate didn't mind. She liked the idea of being up high, of being in a private place.

The two girls stepped into the loft, and Kate froze in place. "Um, wow." She murmured. She could see why someone afraid of heights wouldn't want to sleep there. Almost the entire wall on the far side was glass. Because the cabin was on the edge of the Half-Blood Hill, Kate could see the whole forest, and it made her feel like she was floating. The bed was in the middle of the left wall, currently in queen-size form.

Kate looked over at Holly, who was standing near the wall near the stairs and warily watching the window. Kate raised an eyebrow at her, and Holly shrugged self-consciously. "Ok, so maybe the twins aren't the only ones who don't like heights. Plus, I feel too exposed up here."

Kate looked around, not able to understand that at all. Holly had already explained that the window was made of one way glass and could control how much light and heat entered the room. Kate loved it. The room made her feel like she was on top of the world. Plus, it wasn't like a monster was going to come creeping over at night to spy on the second story window. Hopefully.

"Well, show me how to change the design. I'm not a huge fan of the woodsy cabin theme." Kate said, waving a hand at the decorations. Holly laughed. The walls and floor were made of real logs, and the bed frame looked like sticks meshed together. The bedspread was a pattern of ducks flying over a lake. There was even a stuffed bear head and antlers over the bed, and the lamp was a carving of a fish with the lightbulb in its mouth.

Holly waved Kate over to another panel on the wall and showed her the password. "Really? Los3rs?" Asked Kate, "Doesn't seem very Nike-like."

Holly huffed. "Well, it used to be VictorsWin, which we thought was just weird enough, until Harley from the Hephaestus cabin figured it out on his second try. He programmed the door to tell us every time we lost at anything. It was terrible." Holly shuddered. "But this code isn't something they'd guess. In a way, it's predictable after our last one, but no one would think that Holly and I would be able to swallow our pride enough to make the code 'losers'. But it's just a password; it doesn't matter." Holly shrugged, but Kate could tell that it bothered her just a little bit.

Holly went down the stairs as soon as Kate was done decorating. The walls, ceiling and floor were completely white, with a lavender area rug to give some color. The dresser was also painted white, but the dark knobs and small house plants gave it just enough personality. It was pretty minimalist, but Kate loved it. She didn't even need the light on, as the sun illuminated the room perfectly. It was almost nine o'clock, and Holly had warned Kate that they'd already missed archery. Weaponry and sword fighting were next up, so Kate exchanged her jeans for a pair of leggings. She found a long sleeve, dry-fit camp t-shirt in her bag and threw it on, thankful for the clothing but wishing for her own. At least there was something good for exercising. Kate had seen a few other people with the same shirt on, so she hoped it was appropriate for sword-fighting, but honestly she had no idea.

Kate was down the ladder in no time, but Holly was already waiting impatiently by the door. As they walked over to the arena, the sound of clashing swords and yelling filled the air. "Alright," said Holly when they arrived, "I can't take you to the armory; I've already missed enough training. Shane and Ellis are in the armory today and will help you pick out some weapons that'll work for you. After that, come into the arena and we can see what you've got. Oh, and the big burly one in the armory, Ellis, can be a bit much sometimes. I can't even be near Ares kids. You'll do better. Probably. Just try not to mention anything that would make him feel mad or competitive." Holly pointed to a side entrance, then waved and headed into the arena. Kate sighed and continued down the hallway alone.

She came to a huge door that was propped open with a wedge of metal. Without looking, Kate knew that it led to a room full of weapons. Shivering with the same excitement she'd felt at the cabin, she walked up to the door. Shoving it aside without preamble, she walked into the room and gasped. Rows and rows of arrows, swords, knives, shields, spears, and all sorts of other pointy things were on waist high racks throughout the room. The walls were adorned with an assortment of weapons too, though they seemed more flashy and unique than the ones on the ground.

Kate looked for one of the two guys that Holly had mentioned, wishing she'd given a better description. There were several demigods among the racks. One little girl couldn't have been older than eight, but she was holding a dagger longer than her hand and eyeing it expertly. Kate pursed her lips, eyes still roving the room. It couldn't be that hard to find the ones in charge. She saw two guys arguing in one corner by a rack of six foot long spears. They were both very strong-looking; one of them may have been Ellis. Kate watched them a while longer. They both seemed pretty upset, and both were definitely alpha-male types. Still, Kate could see that the dark-haired one held himself with more… authority. She took a step towards them, then realized that she didn't want to get in the middle of that fight. Holly had warned her not to get Ellis upset, but it seemed too late for that. Kate looked around some more. Finally, her eyes landed on a guy who looked to be about her age, polishing some throwing knives. Kate wasn't sure how she knew, but he seemed to be in charge as well. She walked over to him carefully, not wanting to startle the guy holding the sharp objects.

"Um, hey, are you Shane? I'm Kate." The boy looked up, his dirty blonde hair falling into his almost-black eyes. "Yeah, that's me. You the new girl? Daughter of Kratos?" Kate smiled and nodded, suddenly quite eager to get her hands on her own blade.

Shane stood, gingerly setting his blades now. "Let's get you set up, then."

Before coming to camp, even the idea of picking up a sword scared her, but now she wanted to have them all. "Ok! I'm here for a sword. Or a dagger. Or an axe!" Kate was getting a little too excited now, reaching out to touch a double-bladed axe hanging on the wall.

"Calm down, crazy. You sound like an Ares kid." Shane grumbled, smacking her wrist before she could reach the weapon. Kate rolled her eyes, but stopped bouncing on the balls of her feet.

The grin crept back up onto her face as she looked around the room again. "So, what do I get?"

Shane couldn't keep from laughing at her enthusiasm. "It's not Christmas, crazy." He stood and placed the knives back in their places. "You ever fought before?" He asked.

Kate shook her head. "Nope. Well, I did kill a basilisk with a sword on my way to camp, but that's the only weapon I've ever used. I'm sure anything you give me will work, though."

Shane shook his head. "Nope. I hate doing this the easy way, giving you a new sword every time you say the old one doesn't feel right. I'm going to give you a training sword and watch you fight with it, and then I'll give you a blunted one to train with for a few weeks until you're ready for the next size up." Kate shrugged, happy as long as she was getting her very own weapon.

Shane led her over to a rack of dulled swords of varying shapes and sizes. Selecting a very simply one, he tossed it to Kate. Her eyes widened as the weapon came flying towards her, but she caught it with surprising grace. Kate was expecting it, but it still surprised her when the rush of information that usually flooded her came. The weapon had never had an owner for longer than a week, but it was very dependable. She sensed that it was pretty powerful, but wasn't strong enough to really hurt someone unless its wielder was quite strong and not afraid of cracking the blade.

Kate shook the information out of her head and held the sword so that the blade crossed her chest, protecting her entire torso. Shane had been picking up his own sword, so he hadn't noticed Kate's lapse in concentration. He did notice her professional stance, though.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked, leading her over to an open area near the middle of the armory.

Kate shrugged. "It just felt like the right thing to do."

Shane nodded. "Fair enough." He turned to face her on the mat, adopting the same pose as her. "Let's go." He said, his face devoid of emotion, though Kate was sure she looked like a kid in a candy shop among all the weapons.

She was expecting Shane to circle her, or hesitate, or something, but she definitely wasn't expecting him to come at her with a battle-cry that seemed uncharacteristic, though she'd only just met him. He started raining blows down on her, not holding back, and she could barely hold her own. Kate quickly decided to fight only on the defensive, since Shane wasn't really giving her room for anything else. She was concentrating intently, simultaneously trying to block her opponent and learn from his technique. He was clearly holding back, but she tried not to let that bother her.

After less than a minute of fighting, Kate felt the flat of Shane's blade whack her leg. Something in her mind shifted at that painful contact. She stopped processing all of the extra things, like the small crowd they were drawing, the sound of ringing blades, and the tiredness that was slowing her limbs. She focused only on one movement to the next, trying her best to stay on the mat and somehow best Shane. She registered the look of surprise on Shane's face as her moves inexplicably improved, but didn't let it effect her. After a while of fighting which brought beads of sweat to both fighter's heads, Shane bested her with a feint to her legs, which she was overeager to defend after the first tap, allowing him to press the point of his sword right against her throat.

They were both breathing heavily, and it took Kate a moment to register the light applause around them. "Good job, newbie," Said Julia, who must have come into the armory after they started fighting. Kate gave her a tight smile, but she was keenly aware that she'd lost in under two minutes.

Shane dropped his sword and cocked his head at her. "You realize that most first time fighters are beaten in way less time than that, right? You held your own without a single fancy move or unfair tactic." His compliment made Kate smile a little wider, and she followed Shane off the mat to a rack of slightly less dull swords.

Shane examined the rack for a moment, then measured her arm against his own. Finally, he decided. "This one," He announced, pulling an odd looking sword from the rack. It looked pretty normal on the top; the blade a bit shorter than Kate's arm; but the hilt was pretty odd. It was quite long; about seven inches. The hilt was wrapped in red leather, and the simple cross guard was the same deep bronze color as the blade.

"It's only a training sword, not sharp enough to do too much damage, but it'll do for now." Shane said, eyeing the sword.

Kate held the sword up in the light. It was a nice sword, but it had only ever killed one monster. Shane then handed her a simple sheath to go with it, and she fastened it around her waist while Shane told her the basics of taking care of the sword. Then, he led her to a rack of daggers of varying length.

"The sword is good for arena fighting, but I doubt it'll do much good in close quarters." He explained. Kate frowned, wondering what 'close quarters' meant, but she let Shane hand her two daggers. "Ok, now these are real, not dulled like the sword. Fighting with two daggers is different than fighting with a sword, and it's harder, too. You've got to be fast and clever, but I think you can handle it. If any monster comes after you before you get your real sword, these will hold you over." Kate took them from him with a polite "thanks", smiling as she felt the power in them. "Oh, the shorter one should go in your dominant hand."

Kate raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. "How did you know I'm left handed?" She asked.

Shane shrugged. "Just from watching you fight." He said sheepishly, though Kate was thoroughly impressed that he could tell so much about her just from her fighting style.

Kate tucked the blades into the sword belt. Shane frowned. "I don't know why, but I feel like I need to tell you that some people choose to carry another, smaller blade, like, in their shoe or something. In fact, I think you should start carrying one around with you, and practicing with it, too. I don't know why you'd need it, but I feel like I should tell you," he shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.

Kate thought for a moment and asked, "You're a child of Hephaestus, right? Good with forges and machines and stuff?" She asked.

Shane eyed her. "Yeah, why?"

Kate pursed her lips. "Well, I killed a basilisk the night I got here, and I got a tooth from it. I was wondering if maybe you could turn that into a knife? Do you know how to do that?"

Shane drew himself up, "Of course I know how to do that. This isn't my first day here." He scoffed.

Kate smiled. "Great. You make it into a knife, and I'll get you...whatever soda you want." Carly had explained to her how sodas were contraband, but her loft, as well as the mini fridge in the kitchen of her cabin, were stocked with Dr. Peppers, Cokes, and Pepsis. Holly hadn't explained to her how she'd managed to sneak them in, but she had mentioned that Laurel "couldn't stand having less than the Hermes cabin".

Shane widened his eyes at her. "Really? I'm a full time camper, so I haven't had a Dr. Pepper in, like, years."

Kate held back a laugh at his wistful expression. "Well, I can get you one."

Shane gave her a look and said, "You know, it's gonna take some time to get this done. I've got a lot going on."

Kate could tell that he wanted another soda, but their supply was limited, so she went with a different tactic. "Oh, it's okay," she said, "I don't care about the extra time. I'll still give you the full soda." Shane scowled and Kate smirked right back at him, dropping the tooth into his hand. "Thanks for the weapons!" She called, and walked out to the arena without looking back.

The arena, while not huge, was still big enough to intimidate Kate. There were practice dummies everywhere, some with arrows sticking out of them, others with throats and guts slashed, and still others that were burned, crushed, or warped unnaturally. It took Kate a second to notice, but she realized that all of the dummies resembled some monster; none looked human. There were three huge ones about twelve feet tall which grabbed Kate's attention. Two of them were moving around, as if alive. She looked to the edge of the arena and saw a small group of kids standing completely still, watching the animated dummy. They seemed to be the ones controlling it, actually, eyes trailing it and hands twitching every time it swung its arm. Kate looked away and shook her head. She guessed she would have to get used to some odd things around here.

Kate took out the sword Shane had given her and walked toward the giant dummy. There were other forms of training going on, like sword fighting and knife throwing, but Kate wanted in on the main action. As she got closer, she could make out Holly as well as two other campers trying to take out the dummy. It was missing an arm and its legs looked pretty slashed up, but it was still moving around, wielding a chain with a giant, spiked ball on one end. The dummy was using its weapon to smash the ground around it when anyone got too close. Kate finally stopped walking toward it, stopping at what she hoped was a safe distance, waiting until one of the fighters noticed her, not wanting to join in uninvited. Just then, one of the campers, a small girl with long blond hair, darted through the creature's legs, slashing the inside of both thighs with her sword. As the girl ran out of the giant's range, she saw Kate watching the fight.

"Hey Kate!" said the girl, waving before rolling out of the way of the giant. Kate had to actually put effort into not letting her jaw drop. It was Carly! Kate stared at the young girl as she, Holly, and the other camper expertly maneuvered around the giant. A few moments later, the other camper dodged the giant's foot by diving and rolling out of the way, landing a few feet from Kate. As he stood up to brush himself off, Kate saw that it was Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin.

Kate smirked. "Getting rough out there, Connor?" He glared at Kate and stalked back over to the giant. Kate knew that she probably shouldn't be egging on one of the most experienced and mischievous campers, but she couldn't help it. From the look in his eyes, he was determined to take down the dummy for himself. Though she wanted to go and help, Kate felt that she would just ruin the dynamic of the trio. Instead, she decided to wait until the thing was down, then ask if she could help with the next one.

Finally, Holly slashed her bronze sword through the chain holding the ball. The spike thing went flying, and the giant was left without a weapon. Carly took her chance and stabbed the giant in the back of one leg. The giant fell to his knees, and Connor immediately jumped up to stab it in the chest, sword plunging in hilt-deep. The kids controlling the giant all groaned and lost their look of deep concentration, causing the faceless dummy to slump over, almost on top of Connor. Kate laughed as he pulled at his sword and jumped out of the way before he was crushed but the six-foot tall torso. The three campers waved at the other group, then headed over to their water bottles. Kate, too, went over to congratulate them.

"Carly, that was so cool! You did a great job!" Carly smiled proudly, but said "Well, the other day I took out two dummies by myself, so this wasn't that cool. Besides, everyone knows that Percy Jackson once took out a giant all by himself."

Holly huffed. "Percy has never taken out a giant alone. He isn't that amazing."

Holly looked to Connor for support, but he just shook his head. "Hey, I'm not gonna diss my man. He's the one that introduced me to hair dye, remember?"

Holly's eyes narrowed. "How could I forget?" she growled.

Connor grinned. Carly and Kate gave him a questioning look, so he explained. "You know how third place people always get bronze trophies and white ribbons? Well, I dyed Holly's hair bronze and white with semi-permanent hair dye a few years ago."

Holly was seething, but Kate and Carly both were trying hard not to laugh. "Anyway," growled Holly, "Who's ready for a rematch?"

Carly shook her head a skipped over to the throwing knives area, but Connor stayed. "You know, Kate here hasn't been fully initiated yet, has she? Since the Ares kids aren't allowed to do their version of a ceremony anymore, why don't we take over?" The look in Connor's eyes was starting to scare Kate a little bit, so she looked at Holly for reassurance.

"Well, I just fought with Shane in the armory. Everyone thought I did pretty good."

Connor grinned and Kate realized her mistake. "Perfect! That means that you should be prepared for this!" He was looking at Holly, almost as if for permission.

Holly looked between Kate and Connor, then shook her head like a wet dog. "Of course Kate will win! She's Nike's niece, after all. One condition, though."

Connor raised his eyes. "Sure."

Holly smiled devilishly. "If Holly wins, you have to announce that Cabin 17 is exempt from mucking out the Pegasi stables this week."

Connor's face turned pale. "Who would take your place?" He asked, wary.

Holly shrugged. "I'm sure you could find someone to do it. Or, we could just, you know, not have an 'initiation'?"

Connor bit his lip. "Fine. Deal." he stuck out his hand for Holly to shake. Then they both turned to Kate.

"Ready to fight a giant?" Asked Holly, as if it was the most normal question in the world. Kate's face paled, but neither camper payed any attention.

"I would just like to point out that this is literally my first day here, Holly!" Kate whisper yelled as Holly strapped her with some armor.

"Oh, you'll be fine. I heard that you were able to avoid two of Connor's pranks. That probably didn't settle very well with him, and this is his way of payback. Besides, as soon as this idea came into his head, he wasn't about to back down."

Kate huffed in annoyance, though it mostly served to mask her nervousness.

"You know," Holly said, "Some of the campers, like Ares and Athena, enjoy proving themselves like this."

Kate shook her head. "What, by single handedly taking down a twelve foot tall animated dummy? With less than twenty four hours of experience?" Kate asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Holly just shrugged.

"I don't even have a real sword yet!" Kate cried.

"Don't worry about that. These dummies are made for the practice swords."

Kate sighed. "Still," She started, but Holly cut her off by tightening a strap on her arm brace with a violent tug.

"Ok, all done. You don't get a shield, because you've never fought with one before and it would just get in the way."

Kate got the message; it was too late to turn back. Worrying would do her no good now. Instead of any more arguing, she simply nodded and bobbed on the balls of her feet, apprehension racing through her veins.

"And don't worry about a crowd. This is kind of a daily thing here." Holly said, almost like an afterthought.

Kate hadn't even been thinking about spectators before, but she was now. Somehow, though, the thought of a crowd excited her. The nervousness was slowly being replaced by an enthusiasm that she had come to associate with fighting. It wasn't the infamous bloodlust of the Ares cabin, or the neurotic need for victory of the children of Nike, but more like a need to prove her worth and feel the power that came with overcoming something. Kate cracked her neck, shook herself, and smiled.

Holly glanced at her and murmured "That dummy better watch out."

Kate shrugged. "Is there anything more I need to know before going out there? Any tips?"

Holly pursed her lips. "I can't give you that many tips, because then the fight would be too skewed. There are a few things you need to know, though…"


	4. That Escalated Quickly

**A/N: **_Hey guys! I just wanted to send a quick message to my readers: Thank you! It means a lot to me just that you enjoy reading this enough to keep up with it. I know it's been a lil slow, but bear with me. I don't have much of an upload schedule, and I apologize for that. It isn't plausible because of the fact that I'm in school in a rigorous program. I don't make time in my schedule for uploading/writing, but when I do have the time, I use it. _

_Another quick thing I wanted to address is that I would really appreciate some reviews! I know that I have readers, but it's kind of like you're all little ghosts, since I have no idea who you are or what you think about my writing. I'd love to hear your opinions! _

_You'll notice that I've mentioned a few characters that are in Rick Riordan's book. I apologize now and in advance for any out of character portrayal. _

_Okay, for those of you who are still reading this, wow. Good job. I know it was lengthy, I just haven't said anything in a while. Well, like a chapter, but still. Alright, I swear I'm done. Enjoy!_

Kate stood in front of the now-swaying giant. Holly had explained that because only two campers were currently controlling the dummy, she'd have to wait a second before she started. Kate watched the dummy intently, but her mind wandered to the small crowd standing around her. The entire Hermes cabin was there, a few of the Hephaestus cabin—including Shane—and the Hecate cabin, who Kate had learned were the people controlling the dummies. In total, about twelve people were going to watch. Kate didn't know how she drew such a crowd, but it was definitely making her feel self-conscious, for many reasons. She was the only one there wearing armor, first of all, and then there was the fact that every camper, even down to little Carly and Chris, were better equipped than her to take down anything, giant or any monster. Plus, Shane was watching, and she felt like she owed it to him to defeat this monster after doing so well in the sword fight.

Suddenly, the dummy stood up completely straight and began to lightly swing its ball thing, which Kate was just going to call a spike ball since no one would tell her the real name. She wasn't sure how to go about it, but she knew she wanted to do a lot of damage to the legs first. It would be good to go for the arm holding the spike ball, but Kate felt that that was a little too ambitious for her first attack. The adrenaline in her veins had turned into fierce determination to kill this thing as quickly as possible. Besides, it was almost time for lunch, and Kate was getting hungry.

After a moment of walking in a circle around the giant, Kate finally saw her opportunity. The giant swung the spike ball into the ground only two feet from Kate, and seemed to lodge it in pretty deep. In the second of hesitation it took for the giant to dislodge his weapon, Kate had slashed his thigh to where bone would have been if the dummy had been alive. The thing was limping now, and Kate smiled. She felt power coarse through her veins and she knew she could win this fight. The thrill of battle made Kate hasty to win, so the very next chance she got she chopped at the dummy's other leg. It didn't come off, but the giant was pretty much crippled now. His range of motion was severely depleted in his legs, but his arms were still good with the spike ball.

After a few more minutes of dodging the spike ball and performing attacks that were successful but did little to stop the giant, Kate finally settled on a plan. Holly had cut the chain on the spike ball and rid the giant of his weapon. Kate would have to act fast after she chopped the chain, though, because the remaining piece of the chain would be much harder to avoid without the heavy ball on it. Getting as close as she dared, she stopped in front of the giant. Without pause, the thing heaved the ball forward, apparently sure that she couldn't dodge. She did at the last second, and the ball buried itself just like the last time. Wasting no time, Kate sliced the chain as far up as she could, then chopped off the giant's arm at the elbow. It's other arm came crashing towards her and she decided to scamper out of the way. Not quite Plan A, but the giant would be a lot easier to kill with one arm and two immovable legs. Instead of stalling, Kate decided to just get it over with. She rushed the giant from his armless side and jumped as high as she could, then stuck her sword deep into its side, using the weapon as a handhold. The giant started to thrash, and Kate tried not to let it affect her. Instead, she hauled herself up, trying to avoid the stub of an arm as best she could, then brought out the long dagger that Shane had given her and slashed the base of the giant's throat from the side, shoving her knife away from her through its thick canvas skin in a jerky motion. A little unorthodox, but it worked. Kate jumped down as the dummy fell backwards, and everyone began to clap, except for Connor, who looked kind of pissed and kind of impressed.

Kate smiled and retrieved all of her weapons, cleaning the fake monster guts from them as best as she could. Most of the people who had watched simply called out congratulations and left, continuing on with their own training. That humbled Kate a little bit, reminding her that people here defeated monsters every day. Still, she was proud of herself, especially when Julia high-fived her and told her how it had taken Connor months to be able to defeat one of those alone.

Kate was so busy wondering how to best rub this new knowledge in Connor's face that she yelped as someone tapped her shoulder behind her, and whipped around with her dagger in her hand.

"Hey, don't kill me! It's Dylan. Remember me?"

Kate smiled, dropping the weapon, and hugged her friend. "I had no idea when I was going to see you again. I'm so glad you were able to come to this!"

Dylan looked around and shuddered a little bit. "I'm not the biggest fan of giants, but I thought I'd see how our newest camper was doing. That was awesome! Even better than the basilisk. I have to go, but I'm glad you're all settled in."

Kate waved as Dylan left the arena, giving the larger dummies a wide berth.

Next, Shane came up to her, pride shining in his dark eyes. "You did good, crazy. Nice work with the dagger."

Kate grinned. "Thanks. I almost forgot I had it until the last second, but I think it turned out okay."

Shane laughed. "Yeah, I think so" he said, rolling his eyes, and walked back to the armory.

Kate headed over to Holly and Connor, who were now arguing pretty fiercely.

"The only reason she beat that thing is because Lou Ellen was going easy on her!" Connor was shouting.

Holly rolled her eyes. "You're just mad because you know you'll be cleaning Pegasi poop!"

Connor huffed and was about to say something else before Kate interrupted him. "If you think Lou Ellen was going easy on me, why don't you ask her yourself?" She asked.

Lou Ellen was visiting the camp on her fall break, like Connor, and was one of the campers who had controlled the giant. Holly eyed Connor, then called Lou Ellen over. The girl trotted over to them, obviously tired but still bright eyed and cheery. Kate immediately liked her.

"What's up?" She asked, looking between the three of them.

Kate spoke first. "Connor here was wondering if you were going easy on me because I'm new," She said, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

Lou Ellen frowned. "Well, I was at first, but as soon as you got his leg the first time, me and Beth got kinda mad and started making it as hard as we normally would. Sorry," she added, nudging Kate.

"It's fine. It was fun!" Kate assured her. It surprised her a little how true that was.

Lou Ellen nodded and smiled. "Yeah, it is. If that's all you needed, I'm heading to the pavilion. Controlling giants really gives me an appetite." She turned on her heel and led the rest of her cabin to lunch.

"See Connor," said Holly, "Kate won fair and square. Now, go tell your cabin that they'll be mucking our the stables next week."

Connor rolled his eyes and stalked away, knowing he wouldn't be winning this argument. Holly threw her arm around Kate. "I think I like you," she said thoughtfully. Kate laughed, and they walked together to the pavilion, looking like the cousins and friends that they were.

No one noticed the centaur standing at the top of the arena, partially hidden by a wall of white plaster. He smiled to himself as he saw all the campers leaving the arena. He tried watched the fighters in the arena when he could, not only to measure their progress but also to be close enough to help if anyone needed it. Chiron decided he'd have to have a talk with Kate. If she was going to be their next top fighter, he wanted to make sure he knew her first.

Kate sat with Holly and the children of Tyche, of whom there were currently two at camp. The boy had bought out a game of monopoly for them to play while they ate. The game was quite competitive, because the campers from each cabin had a tendency to win. The girl, named Moira, was losing so far, but only barely. Holly was winning, but Kate wasn't quite sure who out of herself and Felix, the boy, was in second. Kate was in the middle of arguing with him over why he should trade one of his cards with her when Chiron, in wheelchair form, came up beside them.

"Kate, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Kate bit her lip and gazed at the game, then stood to walk with Chiron. She knew that they would probably play on without her, but she tried not to let it bother her. She'd always been pretty serious about board games, but whatever Chiron need was probably more important. Probably.

As soon as they were out of the eating area, Chiron rose out of his seat, taller and taller until he was completely half-horse, half-man. Kate did her best not to stare, simply continued walking next to him.

"I wanted to talk to you about your fighting skills." Chiron began, getting right to the point.

Kate blushed. "I know they're pretty bad right now, but give me a few weeks and I'll be one of your best."

Chiron chuckled. "You are well on your way to being one of our best fighters, Kate. The talent and skill you showed in the arena today proved that. I just wanted to let you know what comes with being a good fighter." He said, leading her toward the canoe lake. "Holly and Laurel are very good fighters, and the twins get better every time they come here. The raw talent you posses, though, surpasses the skills that they have accumulated. This means that some other campers may start pressuring you to be head counselor of your cabin. It will be entirely your decision, when the time comes, but I wanted to let you know that a rift with two children of victory would not be the best thing for you. Of course, if you complete a quest successfully, your right to head counselor would be undeniable. Also, as a fighter with such skill, you will become part of the on-call crew. There is no official list, but Dionysus and I, as well as some senior campers like Annabeth Chase and Clarisse LaRue, like to have a few campers that we can count on to defend camp when we need it. We have had quite a few monster uprisings and scuffles and things that require experienced and adept campers to handle. Every camper here, of course, is skilled with one weapon or another and very capable at defending themselves, but it takes a special amount of creativity, skill, and determination to be a top warrior. Most campers do reach this point eventually, but I believe that you will get there very soon. Lastly, there is the slight issue of quests. You see, the better at fighting you are, the more likely you are to be sent on a quest. It's nothing you can control, it is simply fate. I wanted to prepare you for the possibility that you could be sent on a quest. Do you know how they work?"

Kate nodded slowly; Carly had explained them pretty well already. Chiron, too, nodded. He must have understood that Kate needed a second to process. She looked around at camp. Was she really that good? None of the other campers had pointed out that she had any extreme level of skill. She'd only fought a couple of times; she hadn't received any official training with the older campers, unless her mini-fight with Shane counted.

"Who else is in this group?" She asked, trying to understand what she was part of.

"Well, of course those in the prophecy of the seven are always dependable, as well as Malcolm, son of Athena, Katie, daughter of Demeter, Paolo, son of Hebe, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, Will, son of Apollo, Connor and Travis Stoll, sons of Hermes, though apart they are not as efficient as they are together, and Julia, also daughter of Hermes. Those are the people that you most likely know of, but there are a few others on that list as well. Harley, another son of Hephaestus, reminds me of Leo Valdez so much so that you would think he is only a younger version, except that they look nothing alike. Harley is another candidate for this group, like you. So is Shane, his brother. I am not saying that your new job would be to put your life on the line every time we are threatened, but you will definitely be one of the ones that will be consulted in battle strategy and such. You would also be taking strategy lessons with the Athena cabin, which is optional for other campers."

Kate nodded again. "I'm honored, Chiron," She said. Truly, she was. With every new experience at Camp Half-Blood, she found herself feeling more at home. It was like she'd unlocked a part of herself that had been dormant for years. She felt whole now, like she'd found her calling.

Chiron smiled and began to give her a little history on battles in the camp, walking around the lake towards the Pegasi stables.

Suddenly, the hair around Kate's face began to blow widely, and a flying chariot zoomed over their heads, along with a camper yelling in delight. There were two pegasi leading the chariot, flying side by side and taking up a huge amount of space in order to keep their wings from touching.

Kate smiled, the thrill of flying flashing through her and making her want to join them in the sky. She looked to Chiron. "Do all campers get to ride Pegasi?" The thought excited her so much that she was a bit breathless.

Chiron smiled at her enthusiasm. "Well, if the pegasi take to a camper, then yes. There are some people from the Aphrodite cabin that don't prefer it, and some campers just like the chariots, not actually riding the animals that pull them. Pegasi are intelligent and proud, so if they don't like you riding them, then you don't get to."

Kate had never ridden a horse before, and somehow she wasn't sure that they would like her. Her confidence wavered slightly.

"You know," said Chiron, seeing her apprehension, "Horses were symbols of power in ancient Greece. Your father is the god of power and strength, so something tells me they'll take to you just fine."

Kate smiled. Something about that felt true. She looked up into the sky, where another chariot was flying towards them. She and Chiron were content to just watch it, until it became apparent that something was wrong with the chariot, and it was coming in to land right where they were standing. No, not land. Crash.

Chiron and Kate both jumped out of the way as fast as they could. The camper driving it was shrieking, yanking on the reins and trying to force the horses up. The thing was, the chariot was dangling from whatever held it to the horses by a few pieces of splintered wood. The camper was trying to scramble onto the back of one of the pegasi, but he was tied into the chariot by a harness, and the horses were too busy straining to keep the dragging chariot in the air. Kate could see that the chariot wasn't going to last long.

As it came closer, Chiron cocked his head towards the chariot, after yelling for the Hecate kids.

"Is he trying to say something?" Asked Chiron. Kate, too, listened, and could make out the faintest words between the screeching of metal from the chariot and from the horses.

"What's greek fire?" Asked Kate, slightly nervous now.

Chiron's eyes widened. "Greek fire is bad. Very bad. The impact could cause half of camp to explode in flames that we can't put out."

Kate looked in disbelief at the chariot. "Wh-why…?"

Chiron looked briefly to Kate, but mostly kept his gaze on the struggling charioteer. "I believe Harley helped build it. He tends to like to have weapons on hand at all times."

Kate nodded, wondering what kind of kid this Harley was. Suddenly, Chiron's head whipped to the chariot and then to camp. He sighed deeply. "The Hecate cabin will not get here in time. I'm afraid that it is in the hands of the gods now."

Kate gave Chiron a flabbergasted look before remembering that the gods were real and could plausibly do something about it. Still, Kate hated knowing that there was nothing she could do. Chiron's resignation seemed…weak, almost. His stance was no longer tense; he was truly not going to do anything. Kate could not find it in herself to hand her fate and the fate of others over to the powers of the gods. She'd been at camp for less than two days, yet even that time was long enough for her to understand that the gods were fickle and out of touch with mortal struggles. They probably wouldn't even notice the possible massacre. _But I'm here. I can do something_, Kate thought.

All of these thoughts rushed through her mind in less than a second, and without thinking, she leapt in the path of the chariot. It was barely a second away, but it passed like an eternity; everything was in slow motion. Kate put her hands out in front of her, planted her feet, and watched the chariot closely. When the front end of it finally, finally, touched the ground, the dirt around it sprayed up painstakingly slowly. Kate could see the camper's terrified and confused face, probably wondering what in the gods' name she was doing. She even saw the moment the green flames began to overtake the chariot. It was odd, they seemed to be moving pretty quickly in this slow motion altered reality. Taking a deep breath, Kate brought her outstretched arms down to the ground as quickly as she could, focusing all of her energy on the impact and the fire. Immediately, everything returned back to normal, speed-wise. Other than that, nothing was normal. The chariot had stopped moving all together, and the tremors that had shaken the earth calmed completely. Even the trees around them, which had been blowing in the wind, were motionless. The Greek fire was no longer blazing, instead confined to a small jar, flickering and leaping at the air above the rim, though something was keeping it contained. The camper in the chariot slowly rose, looking around as if not sure if anything were real. He screwed the lids on, then turned his attention to Kate.

Kate wasn't paying much attention to him, though. Instead, she was focused on the incredible buzzing feeling that had filled her. She felt like her every cell was vibrating with unrestrained energy. She felt like she could move a mountain just by tapping it. She looked over at the camper, who was trying to speak, though no noise was coming out of his mouth. He extricated himself from the chariot, and even though the broken boards fell against each other, they made no noise. It looked odd, too. Rather than shaking from the impact of falling, or tumbling like a normal object would, there was no movement. They didn't bounce even a little bit when they fell to the ground. Suddenly, Kate realized that she was the one doing that. Concentrating intently yet again, she closed herself off from the energy, hoping she was doing the right thing.

Chiron trotted over to them tentatively. "Christopher, Kate, are you alright?"

Christopher looked up at the centaur and slowly tried to speak, speeding up when he realized he could hear himself again. "Yeah, I think so. I guess we should've spent more time on the prototype, huh?" He said, smiling sheepishly.

Kate turned to Chiron and looked down at herself. She couldn't see the vibration, but she could feel it inside her. She almost felt like she would explode.

Chiron examined her with a searching and concerned look. "Are you alright, Kate? Do you know what you did?" He asked carefully.

Kate shook her head, too afraid of what might happen if she spoke. She felt like it would come out like a yell, not stopping until this odd feeling had bled out of her.

"I have a theory that you might have absorbed the energy from the crash and the explosion. It seemed to almost shrink after you did whatever it is that you did. How do you feel?" He spoke in the warm, concerned voice of someone who wanted to help, but he was conspicuously not touching her or approaching her.

Kate took a deep breath and decided to try to speak. "I feel really weird, actually. I think you're right about the energy thing." Her voice sounded normal, though it was the tiniest bit louder than it needed to be.

Chiron nodded. "I will be honest and say that I am entirely unsure what to do."

Kate let out a nervous laugh, completely unsure herself.

"Maybe you just need to walk it off?" Asked Christopher, apparently trying to help.

Chiron pondered the suggestion for a moment. "Let's try it. Kate, why don't you go to the arena and do some work over there. I will do some research and get someone over here to clean this up. Christopher, perhaps it should be cabin number nine?" He suggested.

Christopher nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that Chiron, really. We kind of rushed the design a little bit." Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so we rushed it a lot." Muttered Christopher.

Chiron nodded and gazed over at the destroyed chariot. "It's rare that children of Hephaestus have a faulty chariot." He noted.

Christopher thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Oh, I know what happened! Nyssa tried to bet against Felix the other day. When she lost, he didn't make her do anything, even though the bet called for some sort of debt."

Chiron looked over to the ring of cabins. "This could have been detrimental to camp. I know he's young and can't necessarily control his abilities, but one of you will have to go talk with him about this. He may not want to listen to me. Until then, clean this up," Chiron said, waving a hand at the wreckage. "Thanks to Kate, I think that a lot of the parts are salvageable.

While Christopher ran off to get his cabin mates, Kate followed Chiron to the arena. Walking didn't seem to be helping, but she didn't know if she'd be able to stop if she ran. Her ears had started to ring and she was getting twitchy, but Chiron didn't seem to notice. When they finally reached the arena, Chiron instructed her to find Sherman Yang, a son of Ares who should have been training in the arena. He explained that Sherman was a fighter who liked to incorporate a lot of brute force into his attacks. Hopefully, it would allow Kate to get rid of the pent up energy that seemed to be filling her. The thought of getting rid of the odd vibrating feeling excited Kate, and she had to keep herself from jumping. She thought she might get lost in orbit if she tried that.

The arena was less crowded than it had been earlier, with only a few older campers who didn't need much supervision. Kate looked around at the five or so campers, all slashing and stabbing at dummies, though she noticed that none of the dummies were animated or over six feet tall. Watching them all fight, Kate was able to pinpoint a burly, dark-haired kid slashing at a dummy in a way that honestly made Kate slightly nervous. She went over and stood so that he could see her, waiting until she was sure he knew she was there before speaking. She really didn't want to risk a sword to the gut.

"Uh, Sherman?" She asked, making an effort to keep her voice at a normal volume. He glanced up from his dummy, though the bloodthirsty look didn't leave his eyes. "Chiron sent me here to fight you. I'm Kate, I got here last night. I was claimed this morning, at breakfast."His gaze remained blank. "I'm the daughter of Kratos? I fought one of the giant dummy earlier today."

That seemed to stir his memory, and he nodded stiffly. "The new kid. I heard you won a fight with a giant." He said.

Kate got the impression that he didn't talk much. He kicked the dummy to the side, creating a good sized clearing. "Why did Chiron send you?" He asked, cleaning his blade of residual fluff and pieces of foam from the dummy.

"I kind of stopped an explosion from a chariot. He thinks that I ended up absorbing the energy from the crash and the greek fire into myself, and now I need to work it out. He's doing research now, but we think fighting will help."

Sherman eyed Kate up and down, with a calculating look that told Kate he wouldn't be going easy on her. She could feel his natural confidence, and it made her own double. If he thought that this would be easy, he was dead wrong, Kate thought. She didn't know much about the energy that was pent up inside her, but she did know that, at the moment, she was a lot more powerful than she looked.

"Alright. Let's get started," Sherman called. Kate would have been surprised at his eagerness to start after fighting the targets, but the glint in his eyes told her that Sherman had been waiting too long to beat up something that wasn't a dummy.


	5. Still Escalating

**A/N:** _Hey. So, I know it's been a while. And I'm sorry. Really, really, sorry. I love writing this story, but I got a bit of writer's block. I wasn't sure that I liked where it was going, so I just decided to not upload until I was happy with my work. Unfortunately, I haven't had any time, and I'm not exaggerating there, to pour in to this story. But I was thinking about it and there is still content that I like before any of the iffy stuff starts happening, so here it is! It might be a little short, but I think by posting it, I'll be able to come up with a more solid plan for the rest of the story._

_Again, so sorry for the long wait. Like I said, I have not had any time at all. Hopefully that will change, but we shall see. _

_Finally, I would like to reiterate that this story has a few inconsistencies with canon concerning time, ages, and some of the characters' personalities. But I mean, I am the author of this, so oh, well. Rick Riordan owns everything that isn't mine._

_Enjoy! _

Unlike Shane, Sherman didn't immediately leap and yell like a battle-crazed warrior. He a second longer to do it. As soon as Kate took a step to his right, his huge form hurtled toward her. She knew that her own strength wouldn't be able to meet his in such a direct collision. He was wide enough that Kate decided not to wait too long before leaping out of his path.

Sherman whirled on her immediately, giving her no time to prepare. When his blade clanged against hers, she could tell his wasn't a training sword. Kate's own weapon quivered and even bent in her hand as she defended herself. Knowing her sword wouldn't hold up much longer, she swiped at Sherman's legs and rolled away from him, kicking her foot out to keep him at a distance, at least momentarily. When Kate stood again, he was facing her, watching her hungrily. A part of her was slightly scared, but then the buzzing feeling replaced her nervousness. Kate felt the same confidence that had flooded her after her last two victories, even though she hadn't won this yet.

Kate scanned his face, ignoring any remaining nervousness or pride to focus on her opponent. She could see that Sherman thought he would win this; he felt he had the upper hand. The buzzing in Kate seemed to draw into her core, infusing her with strength and fortitude, as well as a control she hadn't felt in a while. Kate looked around the arena. Sherman thought he had the upper hand because he _did_. He was much older than Kate was, and had been fighting a lot longer, too. Plus, he was the son of Ares. Fighting was kind of his thing. Kate planted her feet. _Well, fighting is _my_ thing, too,_ she thought grimly.

Sherman began to shuffle toward her slowly, trying to move Kate to the edge of the makeshift circle, which was lined with dummies. Kate let him, moving to the right every once in a while so that the sun would be in his eyes. He grinned as he neared her, and Kate hoped he thought she was scared. She definitely wasn't; she could hardly keep a predator's grin off her face.

When Sherman began to squint, she attacked. Kate adopted Shane's technique, yelling like a banshee. The sound that came out of her was barely at a human decibel, affected as she was by raw energy. It sounded much more like a roar, and her opponent almost balked. Almost. His sword came up, and the familiar quake of the lower quality hilt in her hands returned. It annoyed her, so she channeled some of her wild energy into the sword. It felt natural in the immediate moment, but as soon as she started, Kate had no idea how it was possible. She could feel energy moving from her hands into the sword, though Sherman didn't seem to notice. Immediately, she tried to cut it off, but then she realized that she wanted this to happen. Letting instinct take control, Kate didn't stop the flow until it felt right. By then, the sword felt alive with its own power, solid and slightly heavier in her hand.

Sherman's eyes widened and he stared at Kate's hand. She frowned and looked, noticing that the hilt, which had previously been a simple reddish-brown leather, had changed to an opulent purple color that somehow reminded her of the deepest of sea waters. Now, the sharp edges of the sword were oddly bright white instead of bronze.

Sherman's eyes darted back to hers and he swung his sword again. Instead of being met with little resistance, a loud clang reverberated along the arena walls with every strike. He stumbled backward with the force of Kate's blows, though it didn't feel to her like she was hitting any harder. Abruptly, Kate realized that it was her sword doing the work for her. Focusing, she also noticed that the vibrate-y feeling had faded to a dull pulse, but she didn't let it stop her from finishing the fight. Although the entire goal of this battle had been to get her energy out, Kate wasn't about to quit while she was ahead. Instead, she quickened her pace, striking, kicking, feinting, and stabbing like a whirlwind. She used every piece of the circle, all the way down to the stub-like arm of a dummy that lay off to the side, which she forced Sherman to navigate around. His eyes grew angrier and angrier, matching Kate's magically aided force with his own personal brute force. The fight had already passed the two minute mark, but she didn't care.

Sherman was sweating, but Kate was cool, calm, and collected. Eventually, though, she could feel her strength start to ebb ever so slightly. She hadn't built up the muscle mass that Sherman had, but she was not deterred and determined to win. He was too, though, and the complexity of his attacks devolved into strikes that might have knocked her over without her newly enhanced sword.

Finally, Sherman seemed to have had enough. His eyes flickered from angry to crazed, and he pushed off the ground in a reckless leap. His face pulled into an expression that a person might have made as a joke, and Kate paused in her own attack, her sword faltering in mid-air. He used the force of his landing combined with Kate's hesitation to lock his sword with her own, pushing against her until she had to wedge her feet into the ground to keep from sliding back. If Kate moved her sword aside, Sherman's might fall into her face. Kate tried to push against him, but he simply scowled and pushed back harder. Grimacing, Kate tried to think of a way to get out of the sword-lock. The pulsing within her strengthened, and she again let instinct take control. An odd idea came over her, and she smiled at Sherman, hoping it came off as confident and smug as she felt.

"You're going to lose, Sherman." Kate said. She had no idea where the words were coming from, but she kept talking. "You are a weakling, Sherman. What kind of name is Sherman, anyway? It sounds like a poet or something." Kate had the feeling her last comment would set him off, but she didn't actually know why. When she was speaking, she kind of thought that the words would simply add to his resolve and make him angrier, but she could see the anger in his eyes being replaced with uncertainty.

The scowl of determination faded from his face. "Wha-what did you say?"

Then Kate noticed the oddest part. The feeling of power and strength that he was losing seemed to be channelling into her. She saw his arms begin to quiver even as her own seemed to strengthen. Kate narrowed her eyes at him, then swatted his sword away with a strength that hadn't been there before. In Sherman's weakened state, the blade clattered to the ground. Kate held the tip of her sword to his stomach and smiled like a happy child.

"I win!" She called.

Sherman bent to pick up his sword, eyeing his opponent warily. Kate took a deep breath, and when she exhaled, the last of the force from the crash seemed to dissipate. Still, she didn't feel overly tired. She knew it had something to do with her new-found abilities, because she'd never been one to recover quickly before. Sherman, though, looked rather out of breath.

"Thanks, Sherman. It's all gone now." Kate said cheerfully.

He only stared at her dumbly as she walked away.

Like last time, a few campers had gathered to watch, but there weren't nearly as many this time. A camper who looked to be seventeen or eighteen came up to Kate and nodded at her. "Good fighting," he said in heavily accented English.

Kate smiled warmly. "Thank you…?"

The boy smiled. "I am Paolo."

"Well, thank you, Paolo."

He nodded again and walked back to a group of several dummies that he was disemboweling. Kate noticed thick scars that wrapped around his tanned biceps. His muscle shirt left them out in the open, despite the chill in the air. Kate's smile lessened a bit. The scars reminded her that what she was doing was not for fun. It was for training, to learn to defend herself against those who would rather see her dead than alive.

She walked toward the Big House, knowing it was her best bet to find Chiron. As she walked, she pulled her sword out of its sheath. It was beautiful, though it hadn't been ugly before. Kate ran her finger along the flat of the blade. She could feel the buzz of power in it, tempting her to pick a fight just so she could use it again. She stuck it back in it's sheath after a moments hesitation, shaking her head to get the tempting thoughts from her head. The motion caused the sword to bump against her thigh, and it continued to brush her leg as she walked. Maybe I should ask for a back sheath, she thought, pursing her lips.

Kate finally made it to the porch of the Big House, but she didn't make it through the door, as Chiron was already coming out.

"Did you find anything?" She asked after greeting him.

Chiron patted a journal resting in his lap. "Yes. We haven't had a child of Kratos here in over a hundred years. This book is written in Ancient Greek, though it is not from that time period. We always encourage campers to learn the language, as their brains are already wired for it. Many take to journals as a way to cope with change from the mortal world to this one, or simply to document their lives. This one was written by a camper named Duke Washington. I hate to say it, but I had all but forgotten about him until I met you. He started in the Ares cabin until he displayed a power much like yours. We moved him to the Hermes cabin, as Kratos never actually claimed him and didn't have a cabin, but he became head-counselor of what were called simply the Unclaimed. He divided the Hermes cabin into Hermes' actual children and the ones who were just staying there, and earned his campers the right to participate in activities as their own cabin. Because they were such an amalgamation, they were quite the powerful force. He wrote this journal and entrusted it to me, asking me to give it to the next person like him. Duke hated the thought that a half-sibling of his might live without knowing that they weren't alone. I don't know how he knew that Kratos tends to only have one child at a time, but he did." Chiron handed her the faded journal.

She cautiously opened it, seeing that the ink was in the same deep purple as her sword. She frowned and asked Chiron about the color. When she had been claimed, the wording on her shirts and other Camp Half-Blood belongings had all turned the same beautiful shade.

Chiron considered it for a moment, then nodded as a memory must have surfaced. "Purple was a symbol of power in ancient times, as the dye used to be very expensive. This particular shade was highly sought after in Ancient Greece and Rome. It was as valuable as gemstones were, and was often associated with the gods. It was sometimes called sea-purple."

Kate nodded and inspected the hilt of her sword, which was protruding from her hip and threatening to knock something over. Kate sighed and pushed it away. Chiron frowned as he saw it, asking her about the new color. Kate shrugged and told him what happened.

He sat back in his chair and blew out a breath. "That is your sword now."

Kate nodded. "Yes, I know. But Shane said I could trade it in for a full-sized sword in a while."

Chiron shook his head. "When we say full sized, yes, it sometimes means slightly longer, but it mostly means denser and stronger, normally magically enhanced to better withstand monster attacks for hundreds of years. I would say that what you did to this one not only means that it is full-sized, but also that it is completely yours, balanced and matched to you and only you."

Kate pulled out the blade and admired it with newfound appreciation. It was on the heavy side, but the hilt felt carved for her hand. "Should I name it?" She asked, looking at Chiron for confirmation.

He nodded. "It is a new sword, so it doesn't already have one."

Kate though for a moment. "Potens." She decided, keeping it simple and accurate.

Chiron nodded in approval. "How do you know what it means? I will admit, Power is a good name for a sword of a child of Kratos."

The edges of Kate's lips twitched in a ghost of a smile. "It was part of my mother's motto. 'Confortare superbi potentes'," She said, memories of her mother flooding her mind.

Chiron smiled softly. "Be powerful, be strong, be proud. A fine motto."

Kate shrugged. "She didn't like to tell people about it, because they though we were being elitist. But it was just something to remember when I was feeling down or something. She took a little Greek in college, so I'm not entirely sure if it's right, but it's good enough for me." Kate was blushing, but she met Chiron's eyes defiantly, as if daring him to say anything against her. He simply nodded.

"A fine motto." He said again.

She smiled gratefully at him, then headed down the stairs. "Thank you, Chiron. Do you know where Holly is?"

Chiron pointed toward the Pegasi stables. "I believe that she and Austin Lake are in the stables trying to calm the pegasi that flew the crashed chariot."

Kate winced, remember the fear in the animal's eyes as it battled gravity to keep the chariot aloft. Immediately, she began to head to the stables, but Chiron stopped her.

"Kate. You may find that there is a better way to carry Potens." He said, a twinkle in his eyes.

She paused, waiting for him to elaborate, but he didn't. He nodded to her, encouraging her to keep going, so she gave an internal shrug and headed in the direction of the stables.


	6. Knives and Fires

**A/N:** _Okay, so. It's been a few hours since I posted chapter 5, and I was looking at it, and I was like, 'What the heck?' I mean, I already have this much written, and chapter 5 was just too short. So, I've decided to post yet another chapter in the hopes of making up for my months-long absence, not that anyone actually cares that much. Anyway, please leave a review!_

_Enjoy!_

Kate cocked her head and inspected her sword for a second time while she walked. Tucking the small book into her pocket, she pulled the sword out of it's sheath. The sheath was still plain and very simple, so Kate didn't think she'd done anything to it. She held the sword up to the sun, looked at it from an angle, and even swung it around a few times, but she couldn't find anything that might make it easier to hold. Shrugging, she put it back in the sheath.

The stables were hard to miss, as horses meandered around the outside of the building. The stalls didn't seem to be holding the horses in. All had doors that opened to the outside, with a large patch of clover and grass surrounding the building. A few children who must have been Demeter kids played around in the plants, running their hands over the areas that had been eaten by the animals and causing new green sprouts to shoot up. She passed a room full of saddles and blankets and tacking before reaching the indoor stalls. About a third were occupied, the huge horses within them all munching on different snacks and feed.

At the end of the stable, Kate saw Holly and Austin, along with a young girl, talking softly to a horse who was snorting and shuddering in the stable. Kate walked over slowly, trying not to further spook the horse.

The mare was beautiful, a palomino with a white diamond on her forehead. Her mane was practically silver, but her sweet brown eyes were filled with fear, her ears pressed against her head. The young girl had a bundle of fresh carrots in one hand and a doughnut in the other, but the horse was not having it, jerking her head away from the food. The boy leaned down and asked the little girl to go check on Guido, whoever that was.

The boy suddenly looked up and noticed Kate. "Kate, right?" He asked, speaking quietly.

Kate nodded, warily watching the horse in case it swung its head in her direction.

Holly, too, turned and noticed her cousin, nodded, and returned her attention to the horse.

"If she's so upset," whispered Kate, "why is she in the stable?"

"I'm no expert, but I think Goldilocks here feels safest in the stable. She won't eat, but she also won't leave. I think she's afraid that the greek fire is still going to explode. She really doesn't like fire." Austin explained.

Kate frowned, wondering why a horse pulling a chariot outfitted for war was chosen if she didn't like fire.

Austin nudged Kate. "Between you and me, Holly here isn't helping much. I think she's actually just intimidating Goldi."

Holly turned, hearing his comment. "Well, I do better with Guido!" She whispered fiercely.

Kate looked at the horse, watching her powerful muscles quiver as she stomped.

"Is Goldi a warhorse?" She asked.

Holly nodded. "Sort of. She's really great in the sky, so with any monster that flies, we know Goldi can help us take them down." The horse shook her mane at that, as if the thought of monsters really wasn't helping her right now.

Kate chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Can I try something?"

Austin shrugged. "Be my guest. She really needs to calm down, but we haven't been able to help her so far."

Kate took a deep breath and gently opened the gate to the stable, only wide enough so that she could slip through, then closed it as fast as she could. Being careful not to block the exit, Kate reached out to touch the space between the mare's nostrils, making sure the pegasus could see her hand the whole time. Kate ignored Austin's soft yet worried warnings that it wasn't a good idea to be in the stall with a spooked pegasi.

"You're a strong one, aren't you Goldi? You pulled that chariot all the way until it fell right off, huh? I heard you were a good fighter. No other air charioteer stands a chance with you in the lead." Kate was stroking her now, and Goldi's eyes had stopped rolling, but she was still fluffing her feathers and shuddering slightly.

"What are you doing?" Holly asked, whisper screaming.

Kate continued as if she hadn't heard her. "You know, Goldi, I took care of the Greek fire. No more explosion. It's all gone now." That really seemed to calm her down, as the animal seemed to sense that Kate was telling the truth. "Yeah, you're safe. No one can hurt you, big girl." Kate said. Goldilocks snorted as if to stay, "Yeah, as if." Kate smiled and left the stall after another minute, ensuring that the horse was calm again.

The young girl had returned, and held the doughnut out to Goldi. The horse practically inhaled it, then gently nibbled the girl's hand and left the stall.

Austin and Holly just stared at Kate. "How did you do that?" asked Austin. "I thought only Percy could talk to the Pegasi?"

Kate shook her head. "I didn't actually talk to her. Chiron told me that horses were symbols of power, especially warhorses, which is kind of my dad's domain. I thought maybe I could calm her down through that connection."

"Well, it worked." Announced Holly, as if that wasn't already clear.

Kate picked up her sword from where she'd leaned it against the outside of the stall so that it wouldn't spook Goldi more. Without thinking, almost on accident, she twisted the pommel of the sword half-way around. She jumped as she did it, because it caused the sword to flash and disappear. In it's pace was a laurel made of pure bronze. Kate picked it up in astonishment. Each leaf appeared to be razor sharp along the edges, but where Kate touched it, the leaves smoothed out under her fingers. Frowning, she swiped it against a wooden post by Goldi's stall, leaving deep scratches. She widened her eyes and studied it closer, wondering how to make it a sword again. Where the two ends met at the front, there was a leaf not quite attached like the rest and a slightly different color. Without thinking, she twisted the leaf, and the laurel flashed, replaced with a tiny version of it, the size of the tip of Kate's pinky. It was a deep purple color rather than the bronze it had started as. Her eyes brightened as she thought of the perfect thing to do with it. Taking off her camp necklace, she threaded the little laurel through it, grinning as it fit perfectly.

"Did your sword just turn into a crown and a little crown?" Squealed the little girl. Only a demigod would get that excited about a sword turning into a laurel.

Kate nodded, simultaneously surprised and unaffected. Holly and Austin looked pretty unfazed as well. "Can you turn it back without taking off the necklace or decapitating yourself?" Asked Holly.

"Let's find out!" Said Kate. She rolled the bead between her fingers, and immediately the sword appeared in her hands, luckily facing away from her body.

"Awesome!" Cried Austin.

"But how are you going to put it back?" Asked the young Demeter girl.

Kate pursed her lips and glared at her sword, as if willing it to tell her its secrets. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "If I only turned it half-way around the first time…" She murmured, lifting her sword again. Kate wondered if she would have to use the sheath, which seemed to be unaffected by her magic. So, she put the tip of the sword on the floor and spun it, and gasped as it flashed into the tiny laurel and snapped itself onto her necklace.

"Wow!" Sighed the young girl. Austin's eyes widened in surprise, but he stayed quiet.

Holly eyed Kate suspiciously. "Did Hecate cabin give you that?" She asked.

"No, I made it myself. Sort of."

All three of them frowned, so Kate explained what had happened as best she could. When she was done with her brief story, Holly looked at her with new eyes.

"That's amazing. There's a huge stereotype around here that children of the minor gods aren't as powerful. Everyone who knows better has been trying to push that off, and I think you could really help with that."

Kate blushed. "Oh, well, maybe. I'm just glad my dad's one of the good ones, I guess."

Austin nodded, "Some gods, like Nemesis, just end up having really messed up kids that don't have any place being part mortal and part god. Not all gods mix well with humans."

The Demeter girl frowned at Austin, but Holly seemed to agree. Kate wasn't entirely sure what she thought. She felt that any demigod could use their power for wrong if they chose to. From what Chiron and some of the other campers had told her, plenty had, and recently, too. She decided not to mention it, though. Instead, Austin and the Demeter girl went to continue their work in the stables, while Holly led Kate to the Amphitheater.

"What are we going to do there?" Asked Kate. "Is there some sort of play going on?"

Holly rolled her eyes. "I wish, but no. Since it's winter, we still technically have to go to school. It's Saturday, but we still have to take Greek. You can test out of it once you're ready, but when you do that, you have to teach it."

Kate raised her eyebrows at Holly. "Is that why you're taking it with me?" She asked.

Holly looked away, and answered vaguely. "I've just never had the time to take the test, that's all."

Kate laughed.

"Was camp always like this?" Kate asked a little while later, looking at the new construction going up everywhere.

Holly shook her head vigorously. "Oh, no. Not at all. It used to be much more like a greek slash war-themed summer camp. There was always the year-round option, but it was still minimally educational. We recently realized that those campers couldn't just rely on the Athena kids anymore, you know? Plus, there was the Titan War. And the Battle of the Labyrinth. And the Giant War. Lots of fighting in a short period of time. Percy Jackson and Annabeth were at the forefront of it. Annabeth isn't the oldest living camper, but she's been here the longest. She doesn't visit anymore other than a month in the summer and Christmas, but she would be the one to ask about how it used to be. Percy was the one who changed everything. He was in the Hermes cabin while he was unclaimed. He met Luke, the one who betrayed us all, and became friends with him before he knew what Luke really was. Luke helped Percy to see what being unclaimed could do to someone. When the gods offered Percy immortality, he instead made the wish that all the kids be claimed, along with some other things. That provided us with a flood of campers. Annabeth and Chiron made some changes after that. I mean, we couldn't just be a summer camp anymore. Not only did we teach defense and Greek and Greek history, but we also had to do school stuff. It's only like actual school if you want it to be, though. Some people take virtual school, but most are satisfied with what the camp offers. If they aren't, they can move to New Rome in San Francisco. Oh! And after the Giant War, we started getting Romans here during breaks and stuff. When Camp Jupiter gets a Greek or someone who needs a break from the Roman lifestyle, they come here. We trade campers, ideas, methods, aid. We've got a nice alliance. It frustrates the gods sometimes, having to keep up with Roman and Greek, sometimes simultaneously, but they deal with it."

Kate nodded, wondering what a Roman camp would be like.

"Also," said Holly, "The camp is bigger than it used to be. Some people are comfortable with it, others aren't. This didn't use to happen, according to Chiron. Once campers got to a certain age, well, it was a miracle they survived. The barrier wasn't nearly as strong. It was really eat or be eaten. If they made it out of high school, campers would try to go to college and never come back. So they stayed. New Rome has been a life saver, since it has a college and a high school. Chiron was thinking about putting one here, but we decided against it, since it just doesn't go with the spirit of our camp. Camp Half-Blood is like those month long summer camps where you went rock-climbing and swimming and had your first kiss and learned how to tie-dye. We wanted to keep that aspect alive. Of course, our climbing wall is made lava, instead of t-shirts it's weapons and armor, and instead of horses its pegasi, but whatever. You get it. The designs of the cabins have helped a lot. Now everyone has a private spot to do homework or just have alone time. Camp is more chill than it used to be, but also less chill." Holly shrugged, obviously not knowing how else to explain it.

Kate thought she got it, though she did still have some questions. "Who's in the Prophecy of the Seven? I've heard about Annabeth and Percy, but the rest I don't know well. It seems kind of important."

Holly laughed. "Yeah, pretty important." She thought for a moment. "They aren't untouchable celebrities or anything, but they've got a special place in everyone's heart. Especially those who knew them in their glory days. The Greeks are Annabeth, daughter of Athena; Percy, son of Poseidon; Piper, daughter of Aphrodite; and Leo, son of Hephaestus. The Romans are Jason, son of Jupiter; Hazel, daughter of Pluto; and Frank son of Mars. They were all chosen specifically, and some played a huge roll in a lot of our wars. Well, Annabeth and Percy did. Jason fought for the Romans before we even knew they existed, so he counts. But all of the others came later, only fought in the Giant War. But it was our biggest, hardest war. The way they fought…" Holly shook her head. "It was amazing. It inspired everyone else. But they were just regular campers who were kind of dumped into a prophecy. The older campers all pretty much know their life stories, at least the Greeks, because of all the stories the Seven were asked to tell. Now though, we don't tell the little ones much more than the gist unless they ask. We try to respect their privacy."

Kate noticed that Holly had started to choke up when she talked about the Romans.

"Are they all…you know…okay? After all the fighting."

Holly scoffed angrily. "Of course, they all survived the wars. Percy and Annabeth traveled through Tartarus, literal hell. They were there. The Seven closed the doors of death. I mean, they went through the ringer. But they all survived it. Then, a few months after everything calmed down, Jason...h-he died. He sacrificed himself, really, so that a quest could be completed. It wasn't even the main event, either."

Kate kept quiet, knowing it was very out of character for Holly to be this emotional.

"Jason was like the poster boy demigod. He was pretty perfect, all things considered. He was a praetor for a while, a genuine sort of guy, son of Jupiter, ambassador between the camps. He didn't come out of the battles without his own personal scars, but we all thought he'd be fine. That was, until Triumvirate happened."

Kate frowned, but didn't ask for details.

"These three emperors were trying to take over the world, starting with the oracles. Apollo was turned human and sent to help fix it. In a battle that helped defeat the worst one, Caligula, Jason had to sacrifice himself. It was foretold in prophecy that either he or his ex-girlfriend would die. Her name was Piper, one of the Seven. They'd broken up, fallen out of love or something like that, but it was terrible. Piper completely removed herself from her Greek side. I know she still talks to the other six-I mean, five-but it's not like she comes to camp. Jason had even started a project in the Roman camp to the minor gods and goddesses shrines over there. Piper carried it out the rest of the way for him, but she just quit after that. Rumor is that the reason they broke up was because their relationship was built by lies manufactured by Hera, then manipulated at every turn by Aphrodite. They were doing fine, though, until everything calmed down. When they had time by themselves, I guess they just couldn't do it. The whole story, from start to finish, is something you need to set aside a day for. It's worth it." Holly paused, staring into the sky. "But we all really miss Jason. Heroes die, but he just…he wasn't supposed to."

Kate had been suspicious at first that Holly had known Jason more personally, but she realized that he must have just been that important to everyone. She found herself wishing that she had been at camp during those times, no matter how much fighting occurred.

Holly and Kate walked in relative silence until they reached the amphitheater. Kate was starting to think that the sides of Holly that she'd seen were not what other people saw.

The two girls entered quietly from an open door in the middle of the stands. Most older kids were lounging around the top, all of them with open books and journals, taking notes in Greek.

"What are they doing?" Asked Kate. They all appeared to be studying, but they were each using different books.

"Like I said, those of us that don't want to teach pretend that we just aren't there yet. Chiron knows better, so instead of forcing us to take the test, he just asks us all to translate these books and journals and things into English or Greek or Latin."

Kate frowned. "Latin?" She asked.

Holly nodded. "It's not required, but it is encouraged. We interact a lot with the Romans, especially during the solstices. It's nice if we know their language, too."

Kate nodded, and walked to the stage of the theater with Holly. Holly pointed out an older teenager sitting with a small group of young kids, reading to them in Greek. While Holly picked up a book to translate, Kate went up to him, waiting for him to finish. When he finally ended the story about what Kate thought was the Minotaur, he stood to look at Kate.

"The new kid! Kate, right? I'm Malcolm, Athena's son." The way he said it made it seem like he knew Athena personally and expected Kate to as well, but Kate ignored the tone, just smiled and shook his outstretched hand.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to learn Greek, I guess."

Malcolm laughed. "You pretty much already know Greek, actually. Your brain is made for it, not English. Have you ever had any problems reading? Dyslexia is super common."

Kate shrugged, though her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "I don't have dyslexia, but I've been diagnosed with ADD."

Malcolm nodded, completely unsurprised. "ADHD, ADD, dyslexia, and other things are all super common. We're meant to fight monsters and read Greek, not sit around in a classroom."

Kate completely understood. She had always had this weird sense that she was wasting her time in classes, but she'd tried to quell the feeling by doing homework every time she felt that way. In the end, she'd become a good student, though she still felt unsatisfied. Coming to camp had changed that.

Malcolm handed her a small book. "This is a short story of Odysseus. Do you know it?" He asked.

Kate grinned. "Yeah, they made us read it in school last year, but I found more versions to read. It's one of the only books that I actually finished because I wanted to, rather than because I had to."

Malcolm smiled. "Well this version is in Greek on one side, and english on the other. This is all you have to read for now."

Kate took the book and thanked him, then walked to sit near a group of kids who looked her age. They seemed to be of mixed parentage, but Kate hadn't met any of them yet. Instead of butting in on their group and just sitting with them, like she wanted to, she sat off to the side and buried her nose in the book.

A little less than an hour later, people started leaving the theater, starting with the older kids near the top. After a few minutes, Holly tapped Kate's shoulder, and the two girls left.

"So," Kate said, trying to wake herself up, "What next?" It was hard to believe, but it wasn't even time for dinner yet.

Holly chewed her lip. "Now is like…mandatory free time, in a way. No one ever says it outright, but this is the time that most people do what being half-god helps them to do. Hephaestus kids are in the shop or the forge, Apollo kids will be in the theater or the archery range, things like that. You don't have to or anything, its just kind of what people do. On some days, this would be when we have capture the flag or some other challenge, but we don't have anything today."

Kate frowned. "What are we supposed to do?"

Holly sighed. "That's where it gets tricky. Not everyone has a set thing they do, so we pretty much just join in where there's room. I'm going to the arena; hopefully someone is ready to lose." A wicked smile came to Holly's face, but the usual competitive streak didn't stir in Kate. She was tired from the day, and honestly kind of wanted to take a nap. She looked at Holly hopefully, but the other girl seemed to read her mind. "The one thing we aren't allowed to do is stay in our cabins. Cabins are kind of off-limits right now."

Kate sighed. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. "Can I go to the stables?"

Holly shrugged. "I don't see why not." Kate smiled and headed toward the stables for the second time that day.

Almost no one was working inside the stables. The same small group of Demeter kids were in the grass, now in a different area, trying to get some clover to regrow in a particularly chewed-up patch.

Kate inspected some of the saddles, which were of all different shapes, styles, and ages. A few were brand new, but others were definitely older. Oddly, the older ones, while dull and patched, seemed to be in perfect working condition. Kate shrugged to herself. She guessed that when you had the power of gods on your side, it wasn't hard to keep a simple saddle from aging. Kate continued down the barn, toward Goldi's stable. The beautiful palomino looked even more impressive when she wasn't terrified. She seemed to be half asleep, but when Kate walked over, she perked up. She rearranged her wings and lifted her head, drawing herself up like a Clydesdale.

Kate smiled. "Feeling better?"

Goldi snorted, as if dismissing the whole thing.

Kate laughed. "Oh yeah, I'm sure you were never scared at all."

Goldi thrust her head our of the stall and stared right into Kate's eyes. The intelligence she saw there took her aback, but she stared straight back. "Okay, got it. You aren't scared anymore."

The mare shook her mane defiantly.

Kate laughed again and looked up at her. "Wanna go for a ride?"

The horse seemed to know what she was doing better than Kate did. Soon Kate was on Goldi's back, testing the reins gently as she settled into the saddle.

When they were finally up in the sky, Kate realized that riding in the air was much different than on the ground. She had no idea how to lead up or down, and turning worked differently in the air, too. Still, Goldi seemed to know what she was doing just fine, and they spent the next fifteen minutes making a large circle around camp. They circled the arena an extra few times so that Kate could watch the fighting. No dummies were in use; campers were all partnered up and fighting each other. Next, Goldi took Kate over the lake, where they skimmed the surface and dipped just above the water. When they finally arrived back at the stables, Kate's face hurt from smiling and her head felt as clear as it had before the chariot crash.

Because she had some extra time, Kate gave Goldi a bath, which caused the four Demeter kids to come and help so they could play in the water. They were all freezing by the end, but all smiling. Kate placed a blanket on Goldi, who also was looking good as new.

After Lily, one of the youngest girls at camp and proud daughter of Demeter, informed her it was time for dinner, they all dusted off and hurried to the pavilion. Once there, Kate looked around for Holly and saw her at the Ares table. Deciding she didn't want to visit Sherman quite yet, she searched for a different place to sit.

The children of Hermes seemed to be playing some sort of game with the Tyche kids, trying to steal things without them noticing. Kate was about to try a different table when Julia waved her over. Kate smiled and sat down, watching them with interest. Chris and Connor were both looking frustrated, though Chris was soon reaching over again to the girl named Moira, seemingly aiming for a bright purple feather dangling from her ear. Just as he was getting close, Moira's hand came up to brush some hair aside and Chris jerked his hand away and adopted an innocent expression. She didn't notice, so he tried again.

Kate raised her eyebrows at Julia. "What are those two doing?" She asked.

Julia giggled. "The Tyche kids have these good luck charms that they never, ever take off. They told Connor about them the other day, so we've been trying to steal them. Moira and Felix have no idea, but every time Chris or Connor get close, something happens so that they can't steal it." Julia grinned. "They're getting pretty frustrated."

Kate laughed too, causing both boys to glare at her. Julia winked and they started giggling again, only making the boys more angry. Once they finally settle down, the two girls left to go offer some of their dinner to the gods. As Kate walked over to the fire, she thought about the events of her first full day at camp. She loved it. She didn't care that Holly swore that it wasn't the same anymore, or that Sherman and Connor were possibly out to get her, or that she had powers she didn't even know about yet. Scraping half of her roll and some gravy into the fire, Kate couldn't imagine a better place to be. Instead of asking for anything, she simply did her best to convey her gratitude.

Still smiling, Kate and Julia walked back to their table, maneuvering expertly through the now-dense crowd. Julia sat at her seat easily, but Kate stopped and looked around. She was getting that weird feeling that meant her abilities were acting up. Suddenly, it was like a curtain was pulled open, and she could sense that someone at the table was feeling very smug. Like they knew they were in complete control. She also felt that it was directed at her. immediately, her gaze shot to Connor. He was innocently eating a biscuit, stuffing his face like there was no tomorrow. But Kate had seen Chris with the exact same innocent expression when Moira had turned to investigate him. So, instead of sitting where she had been, she wedged herself between Chris and Carly, plopping her plate down across from her previous seat. She was rewarded when Connor started spluttering.

"How? How did you know?" He demanded. "You didn't look over here once! I was watching! Besides, NO ONE ever sees me set anything up! Ever!"

Kate drew her eyebrows together. "Whatever do you mean, dear Connor?" She asked innocently.

He growled at her, reached behind Julia, who was sitting next to him, and quickly slammed his hand down on her would-be seat before immediately drawing it away. Pink glitter exploded from a tiny hidden cannon right under the edge of the table, spraying the empty air with sparkling sequence and glitter. Kate could even smell a bit of strawberry perfume that made her want to gag. Julia snorted into her drink.

"I had to steal from the Aphrodite cabin for that!" He growled.

Kate smiled sweetly, keeping up her act. "You really do have a good taste, Connor. Pink suits you." She added seriously. Now even Chris was giggling, though he looked away guiltily when Connor glared at him.

Julia shook her head in amazement. "Are you a secret Hephaestus kid or something?" she asked.

Kate shrugged. "Who knows?" They finished their meal with no more incidents, except for when everyone froze when Chris touched the feather on Moira's head. Kate really thought he had it until Moira reached up to scratch her head, never even looking up from her meal.

Kate walked back to her cabin happily, especially after finding Holly and learning that capture the flag would be held on the coming Friday. When they were almost to the door, which was currently purple in celebration of Kate, they were stopped by a shout.

"Kate!" Yelled Shane, running towards them.

Holly nudged her. "See you inside. Remind me to show you how to get to the showers."

Kate nodded and turned to face Shane. "What's up?" She asked, wondering why on earth he wanted to talk to her.

"A few things, actually."

Kate kept her expression neutral, though she was surprised Shane had anything to talk to the new girl about.

"First, I wanted to congratulate you on your fight with Sherman. I wasn't there, but Paolo and Alice told me about it. I heard it was epic."

Kate blushed. "I only did so well because of that crash." She cringed realizing how weird that sounded. Confusion clouded Shane's face, so she explained as quickly as she could before he could ask.

"Cool. Okay. Wow." He said, obviously trying not to sound too impressed.

Kate blushed again. "It wasn't much of a challenge compared to you," Kate said, frowning. "I don't know how anyone expects me to be that good."

Now it was Shane's turn to blush, thought it was harder to see because of his tan skin. "I don't even hold a candle to Percy or Malcolm. Or even Travis."

Kate rolled her eyes at his modesty.

"Well, that's not all I'm here for. Here, I finished it." He said, pulling something out of his pocket. In his hand was a small knife, only an inch longer than his outstretched hand. The bottom of the tooth had been dipped in bronze and melded to the black handle, which was made out of a wood so deeply brown that Kate at first thought it was fake. The handle was carved perfectly, so that her hand fit into the grooves.

Shane pointed at knob toward the bottom of the hilt. "Press that."

Kate did, and another blade popped of the handle, leaving her with one bronze end and one polished white one.

"Shane how did you do all this in one day? It's amazing!"

Shane frowned. "Are you sure you like it?" He asked.

Kate stared at him, unbelieving. "Are you serious? It's prefect! It's a kind of weird size to have two ends, but other than that, its amazing!" And she meant it. One touch and she could tell the meticulous care that had gone into making it. The knife was expertly made, that was for sure.

Shane shrugged. "It just felt right, putting two edges on it. When you're a demigod, you gotta go with your instinct."

Kate nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. "Oh! Stay right here, I'll be right back." She called, hurrying through the door. Kate returned carrying two Dr. Peppers.

Shane raised an eyebrow. "I thought I only got one?" He asked.

Kate shrugged. "Two blades, two sodas." She said, tossing him the cans.

He immediately tucked them deep into the pocket of his orange hoodie. "Are you going to the campfire? It's a nightly thing. Marshmallows, homemade fireworks, songs, the whole deal."

Kate bit her lip. "If I don't fall asleep, I'll come."

Shane laughed, "Fair enough. It's been a long first day."

Kate nodded and went into her cabin, leaning against the door with a sigh as it closed.

Holly, who was digging around in the kitchen, raised an accusatory eyebrow at her. "Wow, your first day and you're already flirting with a camper." She said in mock disappointment.

"I was not flirting!" Insisted Kate, cheeks burning in embarrassment.

Holly waved her arms. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say." Kate stuck her tongue out at Holly when she turned back to the cabinets.

"Are we going to the campfire?" Kate asked nonchalantly a moment later, picking at her fingernails.

Holly wrinkled her nose. "Why would we do that? It's just a bunch of tired campers singing around a fire."

Kate sighed. "Uhh, because it's fun! Have you ever even been to one?" She asked.

Holly shrugged. "A few times, maybe."

Kate shook her head. "Well, we're going tonight. Get changed!" She said, examining Holly's sweaty look. "If you're fast maybe we won't miss the s'mores!" She called, already heading toward her room.

Holly turned and frowned. "How do you even know about the s'mores, newbie?"

Kate shrugged and smiled, then hurried to her own room to put on something warmer.

She walked up into her loft, admiring the way the setting sun made the world outside look. The room itself was slightly dark, but Kate didn't mind. She went to get her bag, which she had stored in a chest at the end of her bed, but when she opened it, she found her suitcase and duffel instead. She grinned and tore open both bags. Her step-father had apparently packed her entire room into the luggage, because they were both so stuffed that her belongings practically exploded out when she opened them.

Smiling, she grabbed a pair of jeans and her favorite sweatshirt, keeping the tennis shoes from camp. Ever since breakfast, they had been a darker grey color with purple accents. Looking at herself in the floor length mirror, Kate grinned. She looked like all the other campers, with a bit of her own flair with her now-personalized necklace and simple purple hoodie. Her smile grew wider when she realized that the color matched all of her other accessories perfectly. She hadn't thought about it in a while, but purple was her favorite color. She took her wavy hair out of its braid and brushed it, wanting to make a good impression at her first campfire. She didn't know why she was going to all the effort, but she loved it. It wasn't often that she'd been able to hang out with a group of friends so freely. The community atmosphere seemed to be bringing out a side of Kate that she didn't even know existed. A smile on her face, she hurried down the stairs.

Finally, they left for the campfire, though Kate was practically dragging Holly.

Kate's smile only grew as they neared the fire. It was huge, glowing in a bright shade of yellow, flickering to orange at the tips of the flames.

"It reflects the emotions of the campers. The color differs from night to night, but the brighter it is, the better the mood." Holly explained, noticing Kate's enthralled expression.

Kate could see that the fire certainly did reflect the mood. Though the benches were only half full, everyone was laughing, talking, singing, joking. Soon Kate and Holly had joined a large group of older kids, who were all singing along to a song that Kate recognized from the radio. They belted out the song as loudly as they could, to the amusement of the younger kids. After a few more popular songs, someone called for a calmer song. No one said anything, so Kate suggested "Hey There Delilah" to Austin, who was strumming his guitar. He nodded and started to strum the first few chords, causing everyone to smile and nod and whisper about how much they loved the song. It was perfect for the moment, and almost every camper new the song. The flames of the fire changed to an ombre of periwinkle and navy blues, crackling loudly and spitting out beautiful sparks ten feet into the air. Kate laughed at the display of campers high on sugar, belting out a song completely off-key. When the song ended, Shane came up to Austin, standing by Kate.

"Why don't you guys play a camp song? This new kid hasn't been exposed to any of the good stuff." Shane said, smirking at Kate.

Austin gasped, staring at Kate in mock horror. She grinned immediately and laughed at everyone's expression. Apparently the camp songs were a big deal.

Shane lead kate away from the group for a moment, so that they could surprise her with a camp song. They stood on the opposite side of the fire, so that there wasn't even a chance of overhearing the choice. Kate rolled her eyes at the precautions, but she couldn't deny how nice it was to be so wholly accepted into the demigod community. They were all already treating her like they'd known each other forever. Even Connor had warmed up to her during the bonfire, but Kate didn't think that their little prank war was over. She was also finally introduced to Harley, an adorable little kid with a scary knowledge of all things

machine, and who seemed to be a favorite in the Hephaestus Cabin.

After a few minutes of asking Shane questions about her new knife, which was safely tucked into the pocket of jeans, the two were called back to the group. Apparently, the teens had called in the judgement of the younger campers, too, and had settled on a suggestion from the Athena cabin.

Kate raised an eyebrow at Shane and whispered, "Is everyone always this enthusiastic about a new camper? I thought the camp got tons of new people every day during the summer."

Shane shrugged. "The bonfires always make the campers a little more welcoming to the newbies, but I also think it may have something to do with the fact that you beat Sherman and the giant, and saved Christopher, and killed a basilisk, all in one day. You're impressive, Kate."

Kate blushed at the compliment, but waved off the extra attention and said that it was just because she was their only new camper in a week. At this, Shane shook his head but before he could object, the Apollo kids had all started to play their instruments, creating a quick and upbeat tune that made everyone around the bonfire immediately sit down. Kate frowned as everyone fought for a spot on the logs and benches strewn around, but settled between Julia and Shane, neither of whom would answer her questions about what was going on. A few minutes later, Kate figured it out.

The song that had been chosen was a hilarious and interactive song that everyone, especially the young campers, loved. Each verse was about a separate cabin, and gave specific instructions on what to do for the rest of the song. The chorus required every camper to participate, and each verse was played a little faster than the last, until the end came and campers were falling over themselves with laughter and the effort to keep pace with the music. After twenty verses and four choruses, the music switched to a short, speedy story about the Hecate cabin enchanting everyone to dance. This part meant that every camper was dancing with the instructions of their own cabin, going so fast that some people just fell over, laughter too much to take. Kate loved it, even though she knew none of the words. It was a lengthy song, and by the end, everyone was tired and happy.

The rest of the bonfire passed by more peacefully than the beginning, but it was just as fun. There was a short appearance by Chiron, but all he had to say was that the chariots would be up in the air again on Monday, and that cabin inspection would be the upcoming Sunday. After that, there was one more song, and then campers started to trickle out.

Shane walked Kate back to her cabin, since Holly had gone on ahead earlier in the night and Kate still wanted to talk to Shane about her knife.

"It really is amazing that you were able to make this so quickly." Kate said, running her fingers over the leather-wrapped hilt.

Shane shrugged. "I mean, it's kind of my thing, being a son of Hephaestus and all."

"Still, it's beautiful. I can't wait to learn how to use it!"

"Easy, there, Crazy. You've barely got any experience with a sword."

"And yet I've already beaten Sherman. I'm sure I'll be able to handle a knife."

Shane put his hands up in mock surrender. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Actually, you should probably practice some more tomorrow with that sword. Spar, I mean. In the moment you're great, but you still need those foundational skills to rely on when you can't rely on your abilities."

"That's true. I'm actually looking forward to doing some more work in the arena. Not now, though. I'm so tired I'm not even sure how I'm still standing." Kate said, her yawn only emphasizing her point as they approached Cabin 17.

Shane nodded. "I'm beat, too. See you tomorrow, Crazy."

"See you tomorrow," Kate murmured, already trudging up the steps to her cabin.

When she finally collapsed on her bed after a shower in which she almost fell asleep, Kate couldn't stop thinking about the journal, which was sitting on her bedside table. Flipping through it, she realized that it basically looked like gibberish. She wasn't yet at the level where she could pick out anything more than the letters. After tonight, she knew that Duke's experience at camp had been different than hers. Where he was shoved into an overfull cabin and overlooked as one of the many, Kate had a cabin where she knew she belonged. Still, the odd connection she already felt to the author of the journal meant she wanted the ability to read it as soon as possible. So instead of fruitlessly attempting to understand the words, she pulled out the book Malcolm had given her, reading until she fell asleep.


	7. Fight Club Time

**A/N: **_Wow, sorry. It's been a minute. School is hard, but y'all know that. I've really been trying to distance myself from this story. It sounds bad, putting it that way, but I really hit a block with it. Even this chapter feels a little all over the place, but at this point I'm going with the story that I have. I love Kate's character, and honestly everyone else here, but I don't have the mind of a genius author (yet), so I might have bitten off more than I can chew by trying to incorporate so much character development. Oh, well. No matter what, I'm enjoying writing this so far. I'm going in to a super busy summer, so we'll just have to wait and see how often I post, sorry. Please review, especially with ideas! I am open to suggestion, as always. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! _

A week later, Kate had developed a sort of schedule. In the mornings she went to breakfast with Holly, sitting with either the Hermes or Tyche cabin, or both. Next, she went to virtual classes for three and a half hours, using computers that the Hephaestus kids insisted wouldn't attract monsters, and studied math, science, literature, world history, and one elective, which was health science for Kate. Directly after that, Kate went to lunch and ate with pretty much whoever. There was no required seating for lunch, so Kate found herself sitting with an amalgamation of people over the week. Immediately after that, she went to Greek lessons, which were going great. She'd finished the Odyssey in three days, and was on to the Iliad. That class took only about thirty minutes, and then it was time for fighting, one of her favorite things. She fought one on one with the more experienced campers every chance she got, though she found that while she was good, there were a few people that she just couldn't beat, like Shane, Paolo, and Julia. She befriended a girl from the Hecate cabin, who bet that Kate couldn't defeat two dummies at once. Kate took the bet and won, so she now sported dark purple eyes that would last for a month as a prize for the bet. After fighting, she always went to the lava wall/obstacle course. She could only do that for about half an hour before she was too tired to lift her feet anymore, so she normally only stayed for twenty minutes. After that was done, she returned to her cabin to shower. Then, it was time for strategy with the Athena cabin. Once she was done learning about different formations, positions, and war machines, it was time for 'mandatory free time'. Kate did her best to stay away from the pegasi stables and do something more productive, she really did, but her visits with Goldi were too fun to skip. After dinner, Kate either went right to sleep or spent some time at the lake. She loved her schedule, and found that life at camp was practically paradise. She hadn't yet thought of a way to prank Connor back, but she had avoided two more pranks from him. Still, it was rare to see Kate without a smile on her face and confidence radiating from her.

Finally, it was Friday, almost an exact week that she'd been at camp. Knowing that capture-the-flag was that day, Kate skipped arena training and the lava wall, not wanting to tire herself out before the real fun began. Instead, she joined in a beach volleyball tournament which lasted until three in the afternoon. Laughing and joking with Holly and Julia, Kate walked to the lake after the tournament, where the three planned to canoe despite the chilly weather. But, as they passed the Big House, they were intercepted by Chiron in wheelchair form.

"Kate, do you have a moment to speak with me? We need to talk about something important. Now." His eyes were dark as he looked on them from the porch, imposing even in this form.

Kate's eyebrows drew together. Though she'd only known Chiron for a week, Kate knew it was rare to see him tense like this.

"Of course, Chiron." She waved to her friends and hurried up the steps. "Is everything okay?"

Chiron sighed and led her inside. "As of right now, everything is fine, nothing huge is going on. Unfortunately, though, Dionysus has returned and wishes to speak with you. I am not sure what he wants, and I can't promise that what he has to say will be at all nice or welcoming."

Kate stopped in her tracks. "You mean to say that a god is here? And wants to talk to me?"

Chiron gave her a sympathetic smile. "Do not be so afraid, Kate. Gods can be more human than you realize." He leaned towards her conspiratorially, "Dionysus is not known for being very god-like. Do not be surprised."

Kate's eyes widened, but she only nodded and followed Chiron, wondering what Dionysus would be like.

They entered a room that appeared to be an office of some sort. Sitting on a luxury leather rolling chair was a curly-haired man wearing a green Hawaiian style shirt decorated with grapes. Cradling a can of Diet Coke, he turned around in his seat to address Kate and Chiron. Kate almost fainted when he looked at her.

His eyes were the purple-red color of wine, shifting and changing in a way that no human eyes did. But that wasn't what affected Kate. No, it was the power she felt radiating off of him. It was like a roiling hurricane, thundering just below the surface. Kate instinctively knew that she, as a half-mortal, wasn't supposed to be exposed to such raw energy. Being in the same room as him was too much for her, and she wondered why she hadn't sensed him before walking in.

She began to shake as the divine energy seemed to draw into her. It was wrong in a fundamental way; completely different from absorbing the force of the falling chariot. This was divine, godly power that was _eating_ her, devouring her soul as it tried to eliminate her.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell against Chiron's wheelchair, unable to withstand it any longer.

Kate came to a moment later, now on the ground. Dionysus and Chiron were looking over her, Chiron gently shaking her shoulder. She took a shallow breath, looking around blankly. Her eyes were their old dark blue, though the color seemed to have leached from them and they were more grey than anything else. Her hair was less shiny, and she felt incredibly weak, unable to even sit up.

She though Chiron might have asked if she was alright, but rather than answering, Kate simply stared at her hands, avoiding Dionysus's gaze. At further prompting, she tried to speak, but the only sound that came out was a gravelly rasp. A flicker of thought in the back of her mind prompted her to sit up, so she did. As she tried to meet her mentor's eyes, though, she found it to be too much effort, and instead looked at her hands, allowing her hair to fall over her face in a dull curtain. She felt like a shell of her former self, unable to draw on her own power, which she had grown so accustomed to, and unable to form a though for long enough to understand that she should be afraid.

"What did you do?" Chiron's voice sounded tinny and far away, but Kate still felt the need to lean away from it.

The god shrugged. "I forget how these children of Kratos react to me. Most children aren't as in tune with energy as these are, and my power only effects the others in the way they act. Kate here can directly sense and feel my power, as if I'd shown her my true form."

Chiron noticeably struggled to keep his voice low. "You forgot? You know this could have killed her."

Dionysus sighed but avoided the accusation. "I suppose I should fix her."

Chiron glared at him. "Yes, you definitely should fix her." The only time Chiron had a temper with Dionysus was when he was overly lax about the campers' safety. Luckily, it was rare for the god to go this far.

Kate winced as the god placed a hand on her forehead, but she didn't move away. She slumped over in a faint again, but this time, when she woke up, she felt back to her normal self. Although she was still a bit weak, her outside appearance was back to normal, eyes again charmed to be purple. She offered a small as Chiron handed her a tiny piece of ambrosia, (which tasted like the banana bars she and her mother used to make) but her smile faded as she glanced at the god, then quickly looked away.

"What happened?" She asked quietly.

Dionysus cleared his throat. "It's very dangerous for any mortal to see a god in their true form because the energy and power is simply too much for them to handle, and it turns them to dust. Unfortunately, gods tend to exude some of that same energy if we aren't careful. It's why being around me can sometimes make a person giddy or overconfident, or being around Ares can make a person rash and angry. You, as a child of Kratos, don't need me to expose my true form to feel that energy."

Kate nodded and stood up carefully. Chiron was raising his eyebrows at the other man, as if surprised, but Kate couldn't really understand why.

"It's rare to meet someone who knows and respects my power," Dionysus explained, turning to Kate. "Now, I will tell you why you're here. I know that a quest has not formally been given, but I am a god and I can do what I want. I'm sure you know of his little program of eligible…heroes." he said, disdainfully.

Kate nodded.

"Well, we have word that the Minotaur is back in action. Phillip Johnson-"

"Percy Jackson" corrected Chiron.

Dionysus continued as if he hadn't heard, "Defeated it his first year here, and one of his friends did it again later, I'm sure, but it appears that the creature has returned again. It seems to want revenge on the demigods, as it is going around killing any that it can find, on a steady path toward camp. We need to send someone to kill it before things get much worse, and I thought that it would be best to send you, and two other campers that Chiron wants to add as permanent fixtures to his little fight club."

Chiron rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "I thought you had a much more grave issue than that, Dionysus. Though, I am still hesitant to endorse something like this. Kate is a new camper, and we have plenty of other patrol groups who would love to complete this mission. By the way, it is not a fight club in any sense of the word."

The god shrugged. "I just don't want Zeus getting after me for a bunch of dead demigods, even if they aren't yet in camp. Not that we need any more campers."

"I'm sorry, but why exactly did you need me here?" Kate asked, hoping she sounded polite.

Dionysus cocked his head at her. "Oh, I just wanted to meet our newest stand out camper! Also, you will be leading this quest."

Kate sputtered, but was interrupted by Chiron.

"Dionysus, you can't be serious. Kate has only been here a week. I'm sure that I can find someone better suited to lead this mission."

Dionysus nodded. "I'm sure that you could. But Kate will lead this quest. The minotaur is currently in Providence, Rhode Island." He turned his chair back to the desk and began writing. When he realized that they hadn't yet left, both hoping for some clarity, he dismissively waved his hand. "That's all."

Having no way to argue with a god, Kate and Chiron left the office.

Back in the main living room, Kate turned to Chiron. "What exactly does it mean to lead a quest?" Carly had made it sound as though quests were prestigious and proved that people were good fighters, and Kate wouldn't mind proving herself.

Chiron shook his head. "Kate, I don't want you to feel pressured into this. There is no reason for you to lead a quest after spending only a week here. Most campers wait years to be allowed to lead a quest."

Kate frowned. She knew that it would be normal to feel nervous or to want to turn down the offer, but she didn't. The quest was a chance to prove herself in a way she couldn't just by fighting people at camp. Besides, she wanted a chance to take Potens out for a spin. She almost smiled at thought of seeing what her sword could do to a living and breathing monster. "Well, Chiron, I honestly want to go on this quest. Actually, don't you have to have a prophecy to go out on a quest? I'm sure this won't be as bad as a real quest would."

Chiron sighed heavily. "I suppose this isn't a real quest in that sense of the word, but it will still be dangerous. I understand that Dionysus wants the Minotaur dead before it can cause more damage to young campers, but there are hundreds of monsters out there right now who also make that their goal. It's why we've begun to train our satyrs in more offensive battle styles, sending some out solely for the purpose of killing monsters in schools and neighborhoods." Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose, then took a deep breath and looked up at Kate. "But, Mr. D is a god and must be treated as such. I'm sure that he has sound reasoning backing up his choice, he has just chosen not to share it with us."

Kate gave him a small smile and nodded her agreement. "Don't worry, Chiron. I won't be alone, right? Didn't you guys say something about other campers joining me?"

Chiron nodded. "Yes, three campers will go on this mission. Three is a sort of lucky number for these things, as you may know. Mr. D wants only campers from this on-call program that I have mentioned to you, so Shane will be one of the people accompanying you. As for the last person, though, I just don't know. Lacey is a lovely girl from the Aphrodite cabin, about a year or two older than you, but I am not sure that she has enough experience with a weapon yet."

Kate lifted an eyebrow. If she had enough experience to lead a sort-of-quest, how did Lacy not have enough if she was two years older and had been living at camp since she was nine, if what Holly had told her was true.

Chiron explained, "Lacey only started getting into defense and fighting last year, at the suggestion of Piper McLean. Most of Lacey's brothers and sisters aren't huge fans of fighting, so it can be hard for her to get to the arena even now."

Kate nodded; she knew the Aphrodite kids. "What about Harley?" She asked. Kate knew Harley well, as he had taken a bit of liking to her ever since she'd saved Christopher from the crashing chariot. She never would have suggested a normal eleven year old go on such a dangerous quest, but she knew from experience that the young boy was more than capable of protecting himself with the myriad of handmade weapons he kept handy.

"I don't know," said Chiron. "He has been in a battle before, he's fought before, and he's proven himself well."

So far, Kate didn't see a reason not to bring Harley.

"But he's young," Chiron continued. "And part of my job is protecting you kids when I can. Sending him on a quest is not the best way to do that."

Kate bit her lip. Somehow, she knew that Harley was the right fit, she just needed to convince Chiron. "Chiron, I know that this is a hard decision to make, but how many other campers out there could a make a bomb out of some baking soda, a pipe cleaner, and a match in under five seconds? Harley has already been in battle, so he knows what it's like to fight and won't be spooked off. His brain works at a million miles a minute, and, as an added bonus, he's in the same cabin as Shane. That pretty much eliminates the chance of us three fighting, if that was ever a worry. He's enthusiastic and tough, too. Besides, Shane and I are more than capable of protecting him if he ends up needing it. But you know him, he'll probably blow up any monster before it even smells demigod."

The man sighed, now a familiar sound. Chiron ran a hand through his hair, deep in thought. "Alright, alright. Yes Harley is the best fit. But I want all of you outfitted with your own weapons and weapons from the armories of Cabins 9 and 17."

Kate cleared her throat. "What armory?"

Chiron gave her a rueful smile. "There are not many secrets that can be kept from me about this camp, Kate. Holly won't like it, but the weapons in there could be the difference between life and death for you three. I am allowing Shane and Harley to go in there with you to pick out their own weapons."

Kate huffed. "Are you sure, Chiron? That trophy room is probably our best guarded secret. Harley has tried to break in multiple times since I've been here. What is Holly going to say? Besides, I don't know about giving them free reign in there. Everything would probably be pretty good in battle, but I don't want one of them picking something that they can't handle." She insisted, grasping at anything that might help her case. It was true, though. Some of the weapons in there might give someone who didn't know how to handle themselves such a potent sense of invincibility that they could accidentally kill themselves.

"That is one issue you will have to conquer yourself, but I'm sure Holly would allow them in if they swore on the River Styx to never tell of what they see." Chiron looked out of one of the windows to the lake, glittering in the midday sun. "Somehow I feel that this quest will be successful if you are all outfitted well." Suddenly Chiron put a hand on her arm and looked into her eyes. "Kate, I need you to promise me that you will bring armor on this trip. Any kind of armor, but armor nonetheless."

Kate nodded solemnly, recognizing the intensity in Chiron's eyes. This was not the reminder of an over-protective camp director, but the warning of a battle-hardened, centuries old, immortal warrior. Chiron released her arm and led her out to the porch, the hard look in his eyes leaving as quickly as it had come. "Meet me here tomorrow morning at dawn with Shane and Harley." Chiron, who had grabbed a notepad on their way out of the door, pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket and scribbled two notes and handed them to Kate. "Give these to Shane and Harley when you can. Outfit yourselves tonight. The pack you received when you first came to camp should hold everything you need. Shane and Harley have their own as well. I know this is your first quest, Kate. Come here tonight after dinner and I will answer any questions you may have about leading a quest. For now, though, inform Shane and Harley of your mission. Make sure they are clear that you are the leader."

Kate had to resist the urge to bow. Chiron could sound downright royal when he wanted to. Instead, she bobbed her head and went to find the other members of her quest.

**A/N: **_Thanks for reading! And don't worry, the next chapter is going to be a bit longer! :)_


	8. Secret Room

**A/N:** _Hello everybody! Even over the summer, school has not been kind to me, but oh, well! I have a slightly better idea of where I want to take this _

_thing, so I'm going with it. I'm a little self-conscious about this chapter, but I like having a lot of details. This chapter definitely has things that would __fit much__ better in a movie than in words, but I did the best I could. _

_I want to remind you guys that I took some liberties with the timeline in regard to the original books, so Harley isn't exactly the age he should be, and I'm not sure that Shane is, either, while I'm at it. I don't think it's enough to interfere with the story, though. _

_Hope you all are staying healthy, and enjoy this chapter!_

She found Shane first, in the armory as usual. He was at a sort of blacksmith station in the very back of the room, attempting to fix a sword that had been bent in half. Kate looked around the armory for the demigods in charge today, sensing only one. She'd become better and better at that little power of hers, able to sense the hierarchy of power just by walking into a room. She could sense the social hierarchy very easily, and knew when certain people thought they were better than others, as long as the feeling was pronounced. She was also adept at sensing weapons. For example, she knew that Shane had a short-sword strapped to his side, as well a dagger up his right sleeve and an odd little machine in his back pocket. Kate would have to touch it to know exactly what it did, but she could tell that it was a weapon. While that wasn't all Kate could do, it was what she was the best at from her week of training at camp.

Finally finding the one in charge of the armory, an Athena boy named Albert, she flashed him Chiron's notes in explanation and walked toward Shane. Technically, she wasn't allowed in the blacksmith area unless she had either been approved by the Hephaestus head counselor or was chaperoned by someone who was, but she felt like her news was a bit more important than following some boring safety protocol.

She stepped inside and waited until Shane stopped hammering the sword, holding it up to inspect it. Then she called Shane's name softly, hoping not to startle him. He turned, only slightly surprised, but calmed when he saw Kate. Setting the sword down, he wiped his hands on his apron and smiled at her. "What's up, crazy?"

Kate not-so-subtly rolled her eyes at the nickname, then gave Shane his note. "Dionysus wants us on a quest. Harley's coming too."

Though Kate did her best to sound disinterested, she was actually over the moon at being able to go on a quest with Shane. Shane was one of her best friends at camp, and being near him gave her a little extra jolt of confidence that she found addicting. Holly relentlessly made fun of her for insisting he was just a friend. Holly didn't believe her no matter how much she argued, because whenever his name came up in conversation, Kate couldn't hide the slightest blush that tinted her features. In fact, just thinking about it now brought blood to her cheeks, but she did her best to ignore the feeling. It would be a very awkward trip if all of a sudden Kate started acting shy around Shane.

She took a deep breath and promised herself to stop thinking that way. Shane was a friend, and she'd only known him for a week. Maybe you should try to get to know him better before you start to crush on him, yeah? She asked herself. Kate sighed. This quest was going to be a whole lot of fun.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Kate looked up at Shane, who was frowning and inspecting the notes. She snatched one out of his hand. "That's for Harley."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "So Chiron gave you the talk, too, huh?"

Kate cocked her head. "If you mean the 'You're my favorite camper and also the most talented and I want you as my right hand warrior,' talk, then yes, he did give me the talk."

Shane laughed, making Kate smile too, despite her efforts to look serious.

"Well yeah, I guess." Shane put the other sword away and began to clean up his smith station. Kate rocked back on her heels, knowing that if she tried to help she would just end up getting in the way.

He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. "Uh, the note said we had to meet with him tomorrow morning, right? Is there something else we need to do?"

Kate sighed and nodded. "Yeah, there is something we have to do. But it hurts me to say it, so let's go get Harley so I don't have to repeat myself."

Shane frowned, but didn't ask any further questions. Pocketing his note, he let Kate lead him out of the armory and to the grass beyond the arena.

Kate glanced at Shane. "So, do you know where Harley is?" She loved Harley, but he had a tendency to disappear into the forge or the workshop for hours at a time, and she never knew where he might be unless she could actually see him.

Shane shrugged. "He could be in Bunker 9 or in the cabin, but I'm not sure which."

Kate could feel herself perk up at the mention of the mythical Bunker 9. All of the kids had mentioned it at one time or another, spreading rumors they'd heard from the few non-hephaestus campers who had been inside. "Why don't we try Bunker 9? He probably wouldn't want to be in the cabin and get roped into cleaning it."

Shane cringed. "Oh right, we should probably get on top of that. But yeah, let's check the Bunker."

Kate grinned, hardly able to keep the excitement at bay. One of the more believable rumors she'd heard was that the bunker was just a huge room filled with machine parts and large projects, but she could also feel the power stored inside from a mile away. Though she hadn't felt it when she'd first arrived, Bunker 9 had been a sort of beacon of power for the camp. As long as she was outside the ring of cabins, which exuded a healthy amount of power themselves, she could locate the Bunker just by feeling around for the aura of energy. Ever since she first identified it, Kate had been wanting to give it a visit. Now was her chance.

As they walked, they contemplated the logistics of the quest. Kate suggested staying in hostels, but Shane wondered if they might find the monster more quickly by searching the streets for groups of kids. Kate refused that idea. If Harley was going to come with them, he didn't need to see any of the big cities at night. Shane was about to say more, but they'd arrived at Bunker 9.

Kate would never have noticed it at first, as it was expertly camouflaged into the rock and vines surrounding it. Looking closer, she could see the pattern of a huge door, fashioned like a garage door, carved with a multitude of greek letters and symbols. Kate walked up to it and looked expectantly at Shane. "So, how do we get in? Do we have to knock in morse code?"

Shane grinned but shook his head. "If Leo were here, then yeah, we'd use this door. But without him, we don't exactly have access to large amounts of fire."

Kate's eyes widened. "We'd have to light up this entire door?"

Shane shook his head again. "Not the entire thing, but a lot. Enough that a flame thrower wouldn't do it."

Kate reached out to touch the door, then shuddered at the myriad of information that hit her senses. She felt hundreds of dormant mechanisms, hidden compartments, and triggers that all classified as weapons. A mechanic door that was over two hundred years old would have to have a lot of work done, and Kate could feel every siege and every offense that this door had ever seen.

Shane had to physically push her back in order to get her to focus again. "You okay, Crazy?" he asked jokingly, though real concern colored his eyes.

Kate took a deep breath to clear her head. "Yeah. That door is incredible. I'm pretty sure that there's at least one weapon per square foot."

Shane smiled and put his own hand on the door. "Yeah. We haven't had to repair it much, which is awesome." He began to tell her about the different things that he'd seen added to the door alone, but Kate cut him off before he totally lost her with his mechanical talk.

"Hey, Shane, we're on a bit of a mission here, remember?"

He blinked, then inched away from the door. "Uh, yeah, sorry. Let me show you the common people's entrance."

The other entrance turned out to be a lot less impressive, in Kate's opinion, but the traps surrounding it were pretty cool. Shane deactivated them all, then led Kate through some thick bushes to another area where the rock was exposed. Kate shoved her hands in her pockets, doing her best not to be drawn in again. Shane placed his hand on a nondescript bundle of vines clinging to the rock, then twisted it around a few times in a pattern like a unlocking a school locker.

He turned to smile triumphantly at Kate, though she was sure he did this every day. "Nothing like a good old combination lock!"

Kate rolled her eyes, but was impressed anyway. No one would be expecting such a simple kind of lock, though its hiding place certainly wasn't simple.

As Shane removed his hand, the vines moved and sank back into the rock. Kate frowned, and Shane answered her unspoken question. "The lock comes out based on a motion sensor, but it's in a different place every time. I can sense it because it was patented by Hephaestus, but no one else would be able to."

"It's a pretty cool little device. I would never have known about it. Even if I did happen to find it, I wouldn't know the code for it." Her thoughts floated back to the way she'd felt after absorbing the impact of the chariot crash, and she wondered if she'd be able to explode the door away.

Shane grinned. "That's the idea." Then he yanked on the thickest vine, causing the hidden door to reveal itself.

This door opened automatically, with the bottom lifting up and out towards them, revealing a small, dark room beyond. Shane and Kate both entered, though the tiny room barely had enough room when the door closed behind them. Two lightbulbs flickered in the ceiling, both seemingly on their last legs.

Kate looked around with a frown. "Uh, what is this?" She knew that it wasn't Bunker 9, but it wasn't an elevator, either. She inspected the walls to her left and right, which were covered in hooks drilled into cork boards. Keys, odd-looking tools, pictures, gloves, and an array of other items were hung on the hooks, from a tiny, bright pink key chain with fifteen keys hanging from it to a huge drill that looked like it could have gone through a foot of concrete.

Shane plucked a key ring from a higher hook, this one adorned with at least fifty keys. Now that her eyes had adjusted a little better, she could see that the wall in front of her was even crazier than the others. It was covered with locks. Padlocks, combination locks, key pads, deadbolts, and an assortment of others. Kate gaped, looking from Shane to the wall and back again.

He smiled knowingly. "We can't have just anyone coming in here. It's sort of like a right of passage for Hephaestus kids; you build and design your own lock, make your keys, and install them here." He patted what must have been his lock, which looked like two deadbolts on top of each other.

"But isn't that a little, I don't know, inconvenient?"

Shane shrugged. "This isn't the only door, but it's closest to where Harley will be. Besides, it's tradition."

Shane inserted two seemingly random keys into the locks, then began to twist them and push them around in an odd pattern. The door made a hissing sound, and Shane stepped back, taking the keys with him. The door receded into the wall like an elevator opening, revealing Bunker 9.

As soon as the sight of it hit her, Kate gasped and grabbed on to Shane's arm for support. He'd known her for long enough to understand that it wasn't just because she was surprised. The sheer capabilities of everything in Bunker 9 were enough to raze the entire state of New York. Probably all of New England, really. It was a bit much for Kate. She felt her body trying to absorb all of the energy, but, as she'd been practicing, she willed the energy and power and strength to simply wash over her. It was a struggle, and at first she wasn't quite sure if it worked. Someone was hammering a bolt into place, and before Kate could reign in her power, she had absorbed the energy behind the swing, and the hammer fell to the ground noiselessly. Then, she took a deep breath and withdrew into herself until the power wasn't quite so overbearing. Though she felt a little of the energy coiling up inside of her, ready to be used at a later time, she couldn't feel any more adding on top of it.

After she had solved that little issue, she opened her eyes and released Shane's arm with a slight blush. Instead of facing him or addressing what had just happened, she shifted her attention to the area around her. They were standing in a sort of computer bank, monitors, laptops, and a host of other electronics that Kate had never seen before littered the tables around them. On one table, game controllers were embedded into the metal surface of a tabletop, all of them different colors and styles, tiny labels above each button. A giant screen stood in front of them, currently displaying a stock photo of a forest scene. Past that, there was a mini blacksmith station, separated from the computers by a thick sheet of tinted plexiglass. The space itself was huge, three hundred feet tall and immeasurably wide. A few thick columns rose from the concrete floor to hold up the structure, and even those were put to use, holding up monitors or wrapped in cork board, assorted tools hanging on them. There were huge storage shelves to her right, and to her left was an area devoid of any work tables or shelves. Instead, some of the cabin's larger projects were in progress. She spotted a few chariots, each slightly different from the other, and two medium sized boats before her attention was directed to one of the farthest computer tables.

"Hey guys!" said Harley. His eyes darted from the screen to Shane and Kate, then back again. "Kate!" He was obviously resisting the urge to get up from his computer, which he was furiously typing on, and greet Kate. He'd kind of adopted her as an older sister ever since she'd saved Christian from the crashing chariot. Once he found out that Kate's cabin didn't really stick to the 'eat at your own table' rules, he had forced Kate to sit with him and his cabin for at least one meal a day. It had turned out well, as Kate had become great friends with him, Shane, Christian, and a pair of twins named Chevelle and Celica, both named after cars. The twins shared Kate's new-found passion for weapons, so the girls would often spar against the giant animated dummies together, even though they were only twelve years old. All in all, Kate had grown very close with the Hephaestus Cabin.

Smiling, Kate carefully worked her way toward Harley, Shane at her heels. Harley's young face was glowing with excitement, and his fingers flew over the keyboard in his effort to finish whatever he was doing. Kate felt her heart melt a little at Harley. Though he was almost twelve years old, and extremely capable in the arena (especially when he was allowed to bring in his own, mechanized weapons), Kate couldn't help but see him as much younger than that. She often joked that he was related to Hebe, because his young face made him look like he was eight years old. Glancing at his coding, though, Kate had to remind herself that that wasn't true. He was actually a genius. An evil genius, if his ideas on battle strategy were anything to go by.

Finally he finished typing and ran over to Kate, tackling her in a hug. Shane didn't receive such an enthusiastic greeting, only a brief "Hey Shane," thrown over his shoulder. Harley, still smiling, asked what they were doing in Bunker 9. It was rare that any outside visitors came, especially since the only project going on (the chariots) didn't include any other cabins.

"Is there a place we could sit down? It's a bit of a long story."

Shane raised an eyebrow at her request, but led them over to a room in the back, which was filled with gaming stations, couches, beanbags, and extremely high-tech office chairs. She even saw a few VR sets in the corner. They plopped down on some beanbags, Kate claiming the only fuzzy one for herself.

"So," She started, "We're going on a quest." Before the two boys could ask her any questions, Kate launched into the story, from the first day Chiron had told her about his on-call team to this morning and her meeting with Dionysus. She'd already talked about it a little with Shane, but he didn't know the exact details. By the time she was finished, Harley was grinning from ear to ear.

"So you're saying I get to go in your secret room?"

"Is that seriously all you got from that?"

Harley shrugged.

Kate put her head in her hands with a groan. "I hate this."

Shane laughed and lightly punched her arm. "Hey, you get to come into our 'secret room' too, so we're even."

Kate glared at the two demigods. "If either of you ever try to come in the room again, I will personally make sure that you lose every arena battle for a month."

Harley bit his lip, obviously nervous, but Shane shrugged. He was the first to stand, grumbling as he rolled out of the bean bag. "Well, we might as well get this over with." He said, motioning for Harley. The younger boy heaved a sigh and stood slowly up.

Kate rolled her eyes at the display and followed them back out into the main area of the Bunker, behind a set of shelves that reached all the way up to the ceiling.

Shane looked Kate up and down, which sent a shiver through her that she couldn't quite explain, and bit his lip. "You have to promise not to tell anyone about anything you see in here. It'll be like you never went in. Swear it."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I swear on the Styx that I won't share what I see here with my cabin mates, or anyone else, unless their safety depends on it. But just so you know, the same thing goes for you when we get to my cabin."

Both boys nodded, then looked at each other, clearly reluctant to let her into their most secret space. Kate could understand. She had only been at camp for a week, and she already felt an intense loyalty to her cabin. This was also a matter of pride. Having secret, powerful weapons that no one else had access to, only your own cabin, was a huge deal. Some of the youngest campers had come to their cabins with nothing, and their secrets served to bring them together and give them something to hold on to. She imagined that the Hephaestus cabin had a wealth of secrets that could get them in trouble if Chiron ever found out. The same went for her own trophy room. So she would keep the boys' secret, both out of honor and because she just might kill them if they didn't do the same for her.

Directing her to look away, Shane pressed a few buttons on the steel bar of the shelving. When she was allowed to look again, Shane had his hand on a panel that hadn't been there before. It made a beeping sound, then the panel and the buttons receded back into the steel bar.

Kate might have been impressed, but being in camp for a week had been enough to desensitize her to the wonders of the Hephaestus kids. She waited patiently as the shelving receded into the wall, revealing a steel panel flush with the concrete floor. It wobbled gently with some unseen force, and Kate did not find it particularly stable. She was waiting for it to recede and reveal a stairway when Harley jumped onto it. It wobbled more under his weight, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Uhh, is there another way down?" Kate tried to keep the shakiness out of her voice. It wasn't that she didn't like to be underground, but she'd always feared the things she couldn't see, especially when she didn't have any idea what was waiting for her. She was about to take a step back, but Shane sensed her hesitation and put a hand on her back, pushing her gently forward onto the platform.

She cringed as it vibrated under her feet, but Shane quickly moved so that she was between him and Harley, effectively barricading her in. Shane pressed his thumb into the wall in front of them, where the steel frame had receded, waiting a moment before he dragged his finger down on the metal.

The platform buzzed almost imperceptibly, then metal bars rose up from the perimeter of the square of steel. Once they were about three and half feet tall, they stopped rising and the top six inches fell and laid across the top of the pole next to it. It took all of ten seconds, and as soon as it was done, there was a sort of railing around them, though it looked about as stable as the platform they were standing on.

Kate gulped. "Where are we going?"

Shane's arm rubbed against her shoulder as he shrugged—he was a good four inches taller than her—and grinned like a wolf. "I don't know."

Kate huffed, irritated that he knew how to push her buttons after such a short time. Instead, she turned to Harley. "Can't you tell me what's going to happen when we reach the bottom?"

Harley's gaze met Shane's, and, with a sly grin that only a kid who was getting something over on an older person could muster, he shook his head. "Sorry, Kate. But I promise you'll like it."

Kate frowned. She was going to like it?

The opening closed above them as soon as Shane's head fell below floor-level, and a bright strip of light flickered to life on one wall, illuminating the relatively small space. Kate noted that the Hephaestus kids didn't seem to have any sort of claustrophobia.

They were still sinking a few moments later, and Kate couldn't tell if she was imagining it or if the elevator thing was actually going faster. From the quirk in Shane's mouth, Kate guessed that she wasn't imagining anything. Harley began to bounce on the balls of his feet in excitement.

"Why is this taking so long?" Kate grumbled, speaking mostly to herself.

"Well, two years ago, Leo Valdez found this passage. Festus told him the password, and we found a few other entrances as well. There are actually multiple stories to Bunker 9, but we had no idea until Leo found this. The first is storage of random stuff, old car parts, radios, odds and ends like that. The next floor down is where we keep the big stuff; chariots and carriages mostly, but also some extra forklifts, ballistae, things like that."

Kate nodded, still uneasy.

"He means the real weapons." Harley clarified. "The best weapons."

Kate raised an eyebrow; Harley was one weird kid.

Shane kept going. "There isn't technically a floor lower than that, but the elevator will take us to-"

He was cut off as the elevator jerked suddenly to the side, speeding up as it neared its destination, Kate assumed. "It'll take us to the entrance of the 'special' room."

Kate crossed her arms. "How much space does this Bunker have? I feel like we've been in here forever."

There was an evil glint in Shane's eyes that Kate wasn't sure she liked. "There are easier ways to get there, but this is the most fun."

There was that word again. What about this had been fun so far?

The elevator came to a slow stop, and yet another touch screen flickered to life in front of them, as if was inlaid in the door. Shane put his hand out and let the screen scan it. "I'm the only one with high enough security clearance for this," he explained, which surprised Kate. The last time she checked, he wasn't the head of his cabin.

Kate also wondered why security clearance was even a thing at a summer camp for young demigods, but she shrugged it off. Another screen popped up, this one with six numbered buttons. Shane pressed the one marked three, confirmed his decision, and the door opened, receding into the wall. It revealed another, much smaller opening that would only fit one person at a time.

Harley grinned and stepped in, and Kate winced as a fiberglass panel with a giant, white "1" on it shut him off from them. He was still smiling, so Kate assumed that nothing was wrong. He backed against the left wall, out of Kate's sight. A few moments later, his thumb jutted into view, facing up. Shane pressed a button on the screen, this one with a sign Kate didn't recognize.

Kate nearly screamed as Harley's thumb dropped out of sight. Not dropped as in Harley simply moved it out of sight, dropped as in the entire room that Harley had been in sank out of sight like a flash. Her eyes darted to Shane's as she heard Harley's scream.

The older boy simply shook his head with a smile. "Told you it was fun." He seemed to notice that she was worried, so he bumped her with his shoulder and scoffed.

"Harley's fine, that was a happy scream."

Kate swallowed. She really wasn't sure she liked the amused look Shane was giving her. Unfortunately, she had no way out. She would just have to trust him. Before she could ask to return to the surface or for proof that Harley was okay, another opening slid into view.

"In you go," directed Shane, gesturing at the tiny room, even smaller than their current elevator. Kate looked at him and gave a resigned sigh. She couldn't sense that he was feeling over powerful, vindictive, or morbidly excited—and she'd become quite good at sensing those kinds of emotions, especially from Connor, Shane and Holly. So she stepped into the capsule without more protest.

The middle of the left wall had a receded section, just wide enough for someone to stand in. There were several straps and buckles hanging there, almost like a harness. Just as that thought crossed her mind, a pleasant robotic voice instructed her to strap in.

Kate shrugged. It was too late to resist, so why not go along with it? There were instructions on the wall opposite her, and as soon Kate was properly strapped in, back flat against the wall, which was made of an oddly squishy material, like the floor. The voice came on again, this time telling Kate to indicate whether she was ready to go. Like Harley had done, Kate stuck out a thumbs up. Shane must have seen it, because Kate suddenly felt the ground drop out from beneath her.

Immediately, she could see why Harley had promised her that it would be fun. It absolutely was. Kate hadn't gone on many roller coaster rides in her lifetime, but this was better by far. She felt like she was flying. She zoomed left, right, around, upside down, and side to side. The harness did its job, though she spent most of the time on her stomach rather than right side up. She was sure she was going about eighty or ninety miles per hour, but she could sort of see glimpses of the shop below her, as well as storage rooms and the innards of Bunker 9. It was pretty cool, though it was kind of scary considering Kate had no idea where she was going or where she was in the bunker. Just when she began to wonder if the ride would just keep going forever, it slowed to a stop and righted her, and a floor appeared under her feet. She half expected to be back in the elevator with Shane and Harley, but when the door slid open she was in an entirely different area.

Unlike Bunker 9, which was like a giant mechanic's shop, this place was built more like some sort of James Bond weapons room. Swords and daggers lay in velvet-lined depressions along the walls, and other, more lethal looking weapons sat in temperature controlled cases. There were oak cabinets lined with dozens of drawers, beautifully crafted and perfectly ordered. Kate nearly choked on all the power. If it had been her first day, she probably would have run up to every weapon and tried to take them all home. Still, Kate was too busy getting herself under control to notice Harley until it was too late.

"Was it fun?" He asked, jumping up out of nowhere and practically causing Kate to scream.

She forced out a laugh instead, and nodded. "Did you guys build that track?" There was no way something that high-tech had been in place for very long.

Harley shrugged. "The track itself was pretty much already there. It's kind of a maintenance shaft for all of Bunker 9, but when we found it there were some blueprints rolled up in the doorway. They were already planning on turning it to something like a roller coaster, so we just spiced it up a bit." He said it so casually, but Kate was amazed.

"How on earth did you guys find the time for this? I mean, that is some advanced architecture."

Harley grinned, obviously proud. "After the war, everyone kind of wanted a project where we didn't have to worry about weapons. This was something everybody could do, and it was fun. When Dad found out what we were doing with it, he gave us a bunch of advice and even edited our blueprints. Everyone got to do stuff with it. There was architecture, animatronics, coding, welding,—"

Kate was sure that Harley could have listed things forever, but right then, there was a thunk in the chamber that Kate had just appeared from.

"That's Shane!" Said Harley, suddenly reanimated. He gave her a sly grin. "You wanna scare him?"

She nodded eagerly, and dove to one side of the stainless steel chamber, while Harley quickly hid behind a case holding a double-bladed axe that had some sort of motor attached to the handle. She could see some of his fuzzy blond hair peaking out from behind the case, but the door slid open before she could tell him.

"Harley?" Called Shane. "Kate?" He said, a bit softer, and Kate had to hold in a laugh as his voice cracked on her name. Shane stepped through the door into Kate's line of sight, but he spotted Harley first.

"Where, oh where could they be?" He said, a little too loudly, and slowly walked toward the case hiding Harley. Kate heard a muffled giggle; Harley must have put his fist in his mouth to keep quiet. She was sure that the older boy heard it, too, but Shane pretended not to notice. Before Harley could jump out, though, Shane beat him to it and lunged around the case, sweeping Harley up into his arms.

"I gotcha!" He called, laughing along with Harley. Shane frowned as he set Harley down, noticing that someone was missing. "Where's Kate?"

Harley feigned innocence, saying nothing.

"Ka—" Shane was cut off by Kate's yell; she had jumped from beside the chamber in much the same fashion as Shane, only she jumped onto his back rather than attempting to lift him up.

"I gotcha!" She called, mocking him.

Shane's yell of surprise faded into a groan. "Yeah, yeah, you got me, Crazy."

Kate laughed an unhooked her arms from his neck, sliding off of his back. A slight blush had formed on her cheeks, but she blamed it on the adrenaline still pumping through her veins.

"So, what's next?" She asked, examining the room. It was relatively small, but with all of the drawers and cabinets, it probably held just as much or maybe a bit more than her own trophy room did. She frowned at this observation, wondering why they hadn't accumulated more weapons. She knew, of course, that his cabin had had hundreds more campers than her own, so it was quite surprisingly to see so few weapons.

"Aren't there more?" She didn't want to offend Shane and Harley, but there was no way the miraculous Bunker 9 didn't have more to offer.

"We don't have a lot of weapons that make it through wars and battles. Most of ours are bombs or other things that sort of go down with the ship, or our weapons are too good and too few to hide away." He said the last part with a bit of a mocking tone, and Kate quickly rose to the defense of her cabin.

"Hey, we aren't hiding them away, we're just waiting for a good time to use them. There are only four of us, and the twins aren't even here. Do you really think we could actually use all of those weapons on a daily basis?" She crossed her arms, daring Shane to go on.

Shane put up his hands in defeat. "No, no I guess not."

But Kate wasn't done. "Besides, the things we have in there are too powerful to use in every day combat. They are real weapons for real wars."

Shane shrugged, not wanting to incite her more, but Harley cut in, excited by something she said. "I know! Laurel let us use some of the stuff for the giant war, and it was so cool! They let Nyssa have this dagger that could see holes in another person's fighting style! She was like wham! Bam! Boom! No more monster!" He said, making exaggerating hand motions to drive his point home.

Kate laughed and ruffled his hair. It was easy to forget how young Harley was.

"Yeah, and you know what they gave me? Nothing."

Harley frowned at Shane. "Yeah, but didn't Clarisse give you a spear that shouted insults at the Dog-Men?"

"Well yeah, but it wasn't that cool."

Kate sighed. "I wasn't even at that battle," she said, almost wistfully. "I've never seen a real one."

Harley shrugged, but Shane's gaze grew steely. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, Kate. But don't worry. I'm sure this Minotaur is going to put up a nice fight just for you."

Suitably chastised, Kate remembered herself. Battle wouldn't be anything like what she'd done in the arena. In battle, people were aiming to kill you, not subdue you. People died, and you just had to keep on fighting. Kate shook her head. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

"We all get a little bloodthirsty sometimes. Some people more than others," He said, raising a teasing eyebrow at Kate.

She rolled her eyes. "Hey, we're supposed to be here for weapons. Let's get some!"

Harley was all too happy to comply, going over to a glass screen and placing his hand on it. The screen came to life, showing him an inventory of what was down here. Harley turned to Kate, eyes glowing. "So, what do you need?"

Kate pursed her lips. She already had a pair of daggers, the basilisk knife, and a perfect sword. A shield would have been cool with her, but she'd used one twice, and it just didn't feel right. She shrugged. "Why don't you and Shane go first. I'll think of something."

Harley turned back to the screen, happy to get his own weapons. Kate wandered back through the room, doing her best to isolate herself from the power thrumming through the room and instead focus on the weapons. A few things caught her eye, like a beautiful double-bladed axe made of pure metal, but she didn't feel she needed any of it. Kate sighed inwardly, then headed back toward Shane and Harley as she reached the end of the room, this time staying to the opposite wall.

Kate gasped when she saw it.

Another room, the doorway half-hidden from sight by one of the tall oak cabinets. Kate stepped beyond the threshold, her jaw practically on the floor. The room, though small, housed hundreds of helmets. Some looked old, made of leather or iron; others looked like masks; and still others looked more high-tech, like they belonged in some futuristic movie. Kate slowly walked around the perimeter of the room, looking closely at each mask. She almost picked one up, then remembered Harley's love for explosives and decided against it.

Most of the helmets were interesting, but still, nothing was really catching her eye. Kate sighed heavily. She hated to go against Chiron's instructions, but none of these weapons seemed…necessary. Under different circumstances, Kate would have just grabbed one and run with it, but Chiron seemed to think that the weapons would be extremely useful. She stomped her foot, suddenly angry. How hard could it be to pick out a weapon?

Suddenly she felt like laughing. Before coming to camp, she'd been afraid to even touch a weapon. Now, she could feel their power from a few feet away. It would be easy to pick a good weapon; she just had to close her eyes and grab the most powerful one.

Kate decided to go with her instincts and stayed in the helmet room. She walked to the center and closed her eyes, slowly allowing herself to open back up to the energies flowing around her. It was difficult not to absorb anything, so she went as quickly as she could. Each item gave off a sort of gravitational pull of power, depending on the weapon. Her eyes still closed, Kate walked the perimeter of the room, judging each helmet solely through its pull on her. There were some that had strong pulls when she neared them, but when she moved away, they lost their feeling of power exponentially. There were a few whose pull went further than that, helmets and masks that felt like rubber bands, tugging her toward them no matter where she stood.

There was one that was calling to her, as if its power responded to her specifically. It was hard to fight her instinct, but she continued in her methodical path around the room before she came to stop directly below the mask, which was near the top of the shelf, if her estimates were correct. Now that she was close, she could feel the power even more than before. Without thinking, she stretched her hand up, and wasn't at all surprised when the helmet flew to her of its own accord. With a deep breath, Kate closed herself off from the energy until all she could feel was a gentle ebb and flow, surpassed only by the metal in her hand.

She opened her eyes, examining the piece in her hands. The helmet was a pristine bronze metal, heavy and polished to perfection. She was surprised at how old it was; it was probably an original Corinthian helmet. It had a large plume of hay-colored pegasus-hair, though the color changed to a deep purple as she held the helmet. Kate took comfort in the fact that none of its owners had worn it and lost. It was beautifully shaped; the eye holes were artfully carved, small yet graceful. The bar of metal that made the nosepiece was pointed sharply and longer than most of the others she'd seen. The front of the helmet came down low, past the chin. The shiny metal slowly faded to black as she held it, and Kate approved of the new coloring. It was more intimidating, and the purple color added a nice flair. A mirror had risen from the floor when the helmet left its place on the wall, and Kate placed the helmet on her head. She was surprised to see an odd golden sheen over everything she looked at. She brushed her fingers over the metal around the eyes and realized there were multiple enchantments over the metal. Not only were the holes just as well protected as the metal, but the helmet was also fire-proof. Kate smiled under the metal, hoping to get a chance to really test out the new armor.

She examined her reflection, changing the bead on her necklace into Potens. Even in her leggings and camp shirt, she looked menacing. The helmet, amazingly, didn't look out of place whatsoever. She looked truly intimidating, and she relished the feeling before she took the helmet off and tucked it under her arm.

Kate returned to the boys with a smile on her face. "I found my weapon," She announced, holding it up for them to see.

Shane and Harley looked up from the screen, frowning at her in confusion. "That's not a weapon," Said Harley doubtfully.

"Anything can be a weapon, if I want it to be," Kate retorted.

Shane cocked his head. "I don't remember having a helmet like that when we looked through inventory. Did you?" Shane asked, turning to Harley. The younger boy shook his head.

"I might have tweaked it a little bit," she said, earning an impressed look from Shane and an excited one from Harley.

"That is so cool!" Harley's fingers were twitching like he wanted to reach up and grab the helmet to examine it closer.

Shane look doubtful. "Yeah, but how are you going to carry it around?"

Kate shrugged, eyeing the helmet. "Well, I could try…" She trailed off, closing her eyes and finally letting herself draw a tiny bit of energy from the overload of power in the room. She carefully channeled the power into the helmet, hoping she knew what she was doing. With a low shudder, she felt the helmet shrinking and changing in her grip. When she opened her eyes again, it was a black, braided headband with one purple strand running through it. Grinning, Kate put the headband on.

"How do you change it back?" Harley asked, eyes wide.

Kate frowned, thinking. With her sword, there had been a trick to it. But wh, she thought, does there need to be a trick to this? She'd just changed it into a headband without twisting any knobs or pressing any buttons. This time, she drew strength only from herself, just to see if she could, and imagined the headband in helmet form. There was a change in the weight on her head, and when she opened her eyes, she was wearing the helmet.

"Wicked," said Shane with a grin.

Kate shrugged as if it was no big deal, and willed the helmet back into headband shape.

"So, what did you guys get?" She asked. Shane motioned her around to look at the screen, where there were two pictures. One was of an Archimedes sphere, and the other was a simple pair of glasses.

Kate pointed at the glasses, the wire rims giving her librarian vibes. "What, are those night vision glasses or something?"

Harley sniffed as he'd been offended. "Those are Hephaestus's patented any-vision god-glass lenses, thank you very much."

"Oh, my bad." Already Kate had forgotten Harley's rarely seen capacity for sass.

With a few taps of the screen, the computer showed them where items in question were located, and Shane and Harley left to retrieve them.

Kate frowned at the device in Shane's hand. "I didn't know those were artifacts."

Shane shrugged. "They aren't, really. Leo made a couple for us once he found out how, but this is one of the originals. Leo's sometimes catch on fire."

The little sphere suddenly grew spider-like legs and crawled up Shane's arm, settling itself into the pocket of his hoodie. Eyes wide, Kate looked back up to Shane, then down to his now-bulging pocket.

"We can do cool stuff, too, you know."

"Keep telling yourself that, Shane." But even Kate's flippant tone wasn't enough to wipe the smug smile off Shane's face.

Happy with their choices, the three left the room, though in a more mundane way than their entrance. Kate threw a disappointed glance over her shoulder. It was clear that she wanted to stay and explore the weapons, but Shane pulled her away from the room and into the elevator.


End file.
